Shards of Life
by FireWithinMidnight
Summary: A collection of one-shots in which the lowest common denominator is Lloyd; warnings are included in every chapter's disclaimer. Requests closed for now until I'm done with the ones I already have.
1. Chapter 1

_Good day everyone!_

_I've put Be AbsentMinded on a little hiatus (until I'm done with the last exam for this month, that's it), but I felt the urge to write this idea down while I was re-playing ToS for the umpteenth time._

_It's a small Regal/Lloyd moment (it isn't supposed to be romantic, but whatever) seen through Genis's point of view._

_However, keep in mind that this piece presents some OoC on purpose, as it's based on the choices I picked through my current game save. I've made Lloyd shower Regal with attention while keeping Genis off the screen as much as I could._

_So yeah. I hope it's decent, at least._

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters which appeared in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

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><p>Genis puffed over the curry as he poured it into a small bowl. He glanced over the dish, his eyes passing on every member of the group sitting around fire.<p>

"Ow! Sheena!" there was Zelos clutching his hair and sprawled on the floor, while Sheena was flattering the gloves back in their position "Get your timing right! You can't tell me you're going to smack me when you already did!"

"Of course I can, idiot Chosen!" she reached for the male Chosen's face, making him squeak and move backward further "Come back here!"

Zelos pouted, sticking his tongue out "Not a chance, evil banshee! But if you drop on your knees and confess your undying love for me-"

Sheena's empty bowl hit him straight in his face, the ninja completely red in embarrassment and grinding her teeth together "Why, you shameless…!"

Raine, who was sitting next to Sheena, simply shook her head at such sight and returned at silently eating her dinner. The sparks in her eyes had since disappeared little after leaving the Temple of Earth earlier in the day, leaving her thoughtful.

Colette and Presea were happily chatting; at least, the blonde girl was, widening her arms and smiling "And once Randy said he had captured a fish this big!" she giggled, but Presea merely tilted her head and stared at her puzzled "But then Genis told me it couldn't have been possible, because there was no fish that big nearby Iselia…"

Presea dipped the spoon in her portion of miso stew "This kind of auto-gratification is one of the most used among both worlds. The percentage of truth in such statement is most likely around zero"

Colette clapped her hands, still smiling "Oh really? But we've fought such big fishes before!"

"Although sea monsters of said size do exist, fishermen do not hunt them" Presea slowly munched on the miso afterward, humming slightly in the process "Most of the time, their meat results to be poisoned for most humans and half-elves"

Colette's eyes widened "Oh? Oh, I'm sorry…" she said, bowing her head down and looking a little less cheerful than before.

Presea's spoon froze in the air, like she was carefully thinking over her answer "…There's no need to apologize"

"You're right, I'm sorry!"

Genis sighed, then his head snapped upward again as the information sink in his mind "Where are Lloyd and Regal?" he asked frantically, turning his sight around repeatedly and making sure that no, they weren't around chatting or bickering or eating.

The ninja slowly shrugged her shoulders, Zelos taking advantage of her momentary distraction to slip away from under her and her slaps. "Oh, no, you don't-!" Sheena's hands clutched air as the red-head slipped behind Colette, clinging behind her as she was his shield.

"C'mon Zelos, you really look like a stupid bimbo when you do that" the midget mage commented exasperated at his antics, really wondering why he was still sticking around them. Then he saw Raine, whom had just regained from her apathy, glaring at him.

"Genis Sage" she said, stressing each word carefully. A shiver ran down the mage's back "_Where_ did you learn such words?"

The half-elf simply pointed at Zelos, whom took this as a signal to run away from the professor and hide in a random bush without protesting. Colette looked behind her as he let her go.

"Why did Zelos run away?" she asked, beaming all the other presents with a radiant smile. Sheena sat down again, snickering, while Presea made sure to put down her bowl without spilling the remains over.

Raine made to answer the female Chosen, but Genis sprung upright first, fingers still grasping the curry hard "Does _anyone _know where Lloyd and Regal are?"

He glared at the surprised comrades as they shrugged their shoulders insecure or shook their heads "Maybe" Colette began "Maybe they're still looking for wood to burn…"

"Lloyd asked Regal to show him some of his daily exercises"

Presea gazed at Genis, no emotion transpiring from her eyes. The midget mage, instead, turned utterly red, veins pulsing on his forehead as his hands were trembling, barely keeping their grip on the bowl full of curry. "_He did what?_"

"Genis" Raine's voice was calm and firm; even Zelos had poked his head out from the bush to see what was going with the midget "Although I agree it was irresponsible of them to leave the group without telling the others –except Presea" she glanced briefly at the pink-haired girl, who was sharpening her axe with a whetstone "You're overdoing it-"

"Presea, do you know exactly where they went?" the red-headed Chosen sighed at a certain midget mage cutting off his Beautiful Highness, whom was now silently fuming.

The lumberjack didn't look up from her weapon "They're south-west from here, on the dock we used to land"

Without further words, Genis packed the bowl with tinfoil, chewing on his bottom lip. Sheena and Colette stood up at the same time, looking genuinely concerned "Listen, I have no idea why you're reacting like this, but I'll go with you" the ninja said, with the female Chosen nodding in approval behind.

"No!" the half-elf mage shouted angry, stepping backward as his sister raised on her feet as well "I'm… I'm not so weak! I can walk for such a little distance on my own!"

"Oh, just leave the brat on his own!" Zelos finally walked back to the dying fire, raising an eyebrow to the mage, smiling amused "Let him feel like a big man, at least for a bunch of minutes"

That did it: the half-elf turned around and ran, clasping the bowl tight to his chest. He frowned deeper, trying to ignore all the yelling of his companions still around the fire.

Genis's eyes burned and watered. He gulped down, scanning the area for monsters as he dashed across the field.

_Why? _That was a good question. Ever since they stepped on Tethe'Alla, Lloyd had stopped paying him much attention altogether. He would ask what he wanted for dinner, just for his best friend –he was still his best friend, wasn't he?- to wave him away, uncaring.

Actually… Now that he was thinking about it, it was even before that. Lloyd had made a habit out of being around Kratos. He was training him after all –and he was the first human swordsman the boy had ever admired.

He just wanted to be stronger to protect Colette, it was _natural _for him to spend more time with the older mercenary than with him, who was barely able to lift a sword at all.

But then Lloyd had been leaving Colette behind as well. Yes, he did create the key crest to free her from the parasitical Cruxis Crystal, but she found herself having more opportunities to chat with Sheena or Presea or to study with Raine than…

Zelos would be there to glomp Lloyd from behind or wrap an arm around his shoulders, grinning as he teased the naïve swordman. It was that, or the stupid red-headed Chosen chasing girls of every age down the streets.

But mostly…

Genis slowed down as the missing swordsman and ex-convict came in sight; they had set up their own fire not far from the dock itself. He could watch them clearly without them being able to see him, the fact humans couldn't sense mana helped greatly too.

Lloyd was uncomfortably sitting on the ground, one of his feet shaking behind his head as he was using both his hands to support himself. Regal was keeping the quivering limb in its place, pressing it firmly against Lloyd's nape.

"Regal, is…" the swordsman inspired sharply, sweat rolling down his livid face "What was this exercise for, again…?"

"I'm just taking note of the current state of your muscles" the older man shook his head slowly at the boy's distress "You're not ready for this kind of exercise, after all. I shouldn't have let you have your way"

Lloyd shook his head "No! I can do it!"

He tried to inspire deeply, but Genis doubted he managed to keep a hold on most of the air he drew in. Regal looked conscious of this as well, yet he just smiled softly at the teen's efforts.

Stupid, stupid Lloyd. Always pushing himself to his limits, or straining himself beyond that, chasing some hopeless daydreams and dragging all of them with him…

Genis's heart tightened painfully. There was his best friend, a stubborn fool whom is the first to rush into a battle, even when all the odds of the worlds are against him. A naïve idiot whose straight-forward way of thinking led to countless problems and embarrassing situations, and yet…

He was probably the reason he didn't automatically hate every human out there, and why he kept on struggling to keep himself together in a human society instead of choosing the easy way out.

"Lloyd, that's fine" Regal let go of the young swordsman's leg, and he put it down as soon as possible. Then Lloyd proceeded to throw himself backward, stretching his back against the ground, sighing frustrated.

"I can't feel my leg anymore!" he stated, but the older man just nodded in acknowledge "So, how was it Regal?"

The ex-convict stroked his chin, looking far away at the ocean "You nearly strained your muscles, Lloyd. You don't stretch your limbs much during the day, do you"

Lloyd blushed furiously as he rolled on his side, showing his back to Regal "N-not true!" he shouted a bit too loud, and the older man noticed it immediately. He sat down next to the swordsman.

"Lloyd, be honest with me" Regal's voice was soft, devoid of any kind of anger or disappointment.

The young swordsman rolled further away, his blush getting deeper "Well, ok… Once in a while?" he murmured, making Regal chuckle. "Ok, ok, I get it! Don't laugh!" Lloyd pouted ashamed, and Genis couldn't tell the difference between his face and his red shirt anymore.

"That's more like it, Lloyd" the ex-convict absently picked a nearby piece of wood "We could say the current state of your body is this" he bent the wood as much as he could without cracking it "However, if you try to go over…" the small log snapped immediately. Lloyd shivered.

"Wait, do you mean I nearly broke myself in half earlier?" he gasped, scrambling on his bottom. "I would have never thought it!"

Regal blinked astonished at the boy's worried expression. He quickly recovered himself when he noticed Lloyd was actually waiting for an answer out of him "…No, Lloyd, it doesn't work like that" the young swordsman sighed in relief "Unless, of course, you try to stretch yourself over your body's natural limits…"

The young swordsman basically froze on the spot, his expression of relief still etched on his face. Genis had to stifle his laugh at such sight; it reminded him of the countless times he found Lloyd unprepared for an incoming exam…

"_I want to know what spicy is! You prepare spicy and I let you pass!"_

The mage's mood suddenly dropped, his eyes fixed on the bowl of curry. It was probably cold by now…

"_Uhmmm, ok…" Lloyd turned to look at the rest of the group, singling silently "How about…"_

_Genis raised on his tiptoes, mentally wishing there was a "Choose Me!" arrow above him as both Colette and Raine were slightly covering him. Maybe he could use some magic, but it would be too flashy._

_Why was he worried? He smiled, but something kept on nagging in the back of his mind. Lloyd was surely going to choose him-_

"_Regal, could you make some curry?"_

"And how do I know which are my body's natural limits?" Lloyd threw the two pieces of wood in the fire. Genis gritted his teeth: why was Lloyd asking such _obvious _questions? That's why he had failed any exam Raine had given him!

The older man pulled out his kitchen knife while answering "The same way you understand you don't have mana left when fighting. When you reach your limits, you'll know" Lloyd, instead, was rummaging around in his back bag.

"Is there anything you want to eat before coming back, Lloyd?" the young swordsman nodded frantically, taking out some red satay and onion from his personal stock. His smile was so goofy, and yet it appeared so brilliant to Genis…

"Could you make some more curry for me, Regal?"

The bowl Genis filled so carefully with _his _curry shattered on the soil. The wrapped tinfoil prevented the food from spilling everywhere, but that didn't matter anymore.

"_Is there anything you want, Lloyd?" Genis puffed over the fire, enjoying its warmth. He smiled at his friend, but the young swordsman was looking elsewhere._

"_Whatever's fine, Genis"_

No, no, "whatever" wasn't fine…

"_Hey Lloyd! How about we try the new recipe the Wonder Chef gave us!" the midget mage had just locked a protesting Raine out of the kitchen. Lloyd was sticking his head outside of the window, searching for someone._

"_As you prefer, Genis. It's not really important"_

Not important? He talked like _he _wasn't even going to eat it…

"…_Lloyd" Genis tapped on the young swordsman's shoulder, catching his attention "What do you want for dinner?"_

"_I don't care!"_

"You've already eaten curry at the Temple of Earth, Lloyd" nonetheless, Regal was already pouring oil in a pan "Eating the same thing everyday and more than once isn't healthy"

Lloyd grinned, trying to look ashamed of his request although his eyes clearly told the contrary "But your curry is just too good!" as the ex-convict smiled at the compliment, the boy continued "Ok, anything you cook is just too good! You're an amazing chef!"

That was it, then? That was _so _ridiculous! Genis kicked the remains of the bowl, curry and tinfoil. They didn't even turn around at the noise. It was like he wasn't there at all.

However… It was true, wasn't it? He hid himself in the darkness, where _he _could see them, but _they _couldn't make the mage's figure out of the landscape.

Genis turned around, tuning out the conversation Lloyd and Regal were having right in front of him. His _best friend _was slipping away, finding more company in his new friends, in _Regal _of all the people.

Not that Genis disliked Regal. Well, yes, he didn't know Presea and yet he was so concerned about her well-being, but he was so mature and composed and knowledgeable. He didn't have a "Ruin Mania" like his sister, his endless amount of patience was simply amazing, and he wasn't going to betray them like Kratos did, was he?

But _Lloyd_…

"Idiot Lloyd" the midget mage muttered, walking his way back to the original campfire "Stupid Lloyd. Stupid, stupid Lloyd. Stupid, idiotic, _dumb Lloyd_!"

His best friend had been leaving him behind, and what has he done? Looked at him from far away, contemplating the distance between them widening day by day. He could have done _anything_: tease him, drag him away to do his homework, put his bottom on fire without meaning it –he could have said he was aiming for Zelos and the swordsman got in the way-, fill his plate with tomatoes, blast the ground so they could have built a small fort together with the rocks produced by his magic…

Instead, he waited for Lloyd to make the first step, as usual. It was always dumb Lloyd to rush head first in any situation. He preferred to ponder the chances far away –but then again, he never finished any analysis due to the swordsman's impulsiveness.

And now that there weren't any enemies to fight in a mortal battle, he had all the time to plan out his actions. Which Genis never carried out.

He was a coward.

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><p><em>My, this is more angsty than I wanted it to be; I don't have anything against Genis, so I kinda feel bad about it now.<em>

_On another note, I like writing one-shots. They're faster to write as they end in, well, one chapter. I'd like to write some more one-shots with Lloyd when not having the time to flesh out my longer projects, so I'm not tagging this fanfic as "complete" for now._

_If you have any idea for a one-shot with Lloyd and another random character (or two random characters, or three, and so on), feel free to suggest it. I'd really want to try to get on it while keeping the characters –and the world(s)- as IC as possible, unless it's stated otherwise. Anything's fine, except 18+ material: I'm just plain terrible at it._

_I hope you enjoyed reading this piece. If you didn't, I'm sorry I've wasted your time._


	2. Request 1

_Hello!_

_The user Shiroi Iyasu suggested a Lloyd/Mithos/Kratos piece, so I got to work on it almost immediately. Gotta say, though, I believe this is more of a Lloyd/Mithos with some shades of Mithos/Kratos piece x_x_

_Anyway, the scene is set from Mithos's point of view. I don't know the character this well –but it seemed a fun challenge, so I went for it. There's some AU, but it's only related to a minor event and there aren't major changes in the story after that. No OoC on purpose, if it's there it's because I failed at keeping the characters IC._

_**Disclaimer: **__I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters which appeared in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

* * *

><p>Mithos slowly closed the door leading to Genis's bedroom; the entire hallway, filled with priceless pieces of furniture and ornaments, was drowned in utter darkness and silence, at least for mortals' eyes. The half-elf could clearly hear his new friend shuffling around under the bed sheets, too anxious about Colette's illness.<p>

"Sleep well, Genis…" he whispered, lingering in front of the entrance some more. The entire thing was getting out of hand; he was there just to keep a closer eye on her sister's vessel and the group's movement, and on whoever was supplying them with information. _Kratos_, most probably.

He strolled down the corridor, pausing a little in front of every door to listen to what was happening behind the obstacle; that little girl Genis was _so _infatuated with –it irked him, for some reasons- was surely asleep, her breathing slow and even. Her sister's vessel –which was her name, again?- was instead coughing and curling up, surely out of pain due to the crystallization of her skin. And Raine-

"Yo, milord" Mithos stopped in his track, sensing the red-headed Chosen behind him "Did you get lost? I can show you your room again, your _highness_"

"_Be quiet_" the half-elf hissed and glared at Zelos "The vessel can hear us, she still has her angelic senses"

The red-headed Chosen circled around the younger –although just his body _looked_ younger- boy, irritably waving his finger at his face all the time "Our little angel? Nah. She's _too good_"

"Zelos-"

"-So _good_" so, apparently, he wasn't finished yet. Mithos removed the locks of red hair which managed to get on his shoulder "She wouldn't tell anyone. This is the _second_ time she's _dying_, and yet she stayed silent _again_" he then unlocked the door of his bedroom, mumbling about how he would have liked to bump in with jublees "So don't worry, _milord_. She won't talk"

The half-elf walked away before Zelos had the chance to lock himself in the room. He was yet another irritating human whelp, and a useless spy to boot. If he did his job as good as he claims himself to be, he wouldn't be here now-

Where was Lloyd?

He looked over his shoulder; the summoner and that murderer – ex-president or whatever- occupied the last two bedrooms, and the empty rooms left were in front of him. There was no way he could have missed Kratos's son, in case he was in the guest brim of the mansion to begin with.

He backtracked his steps to the stairs, uncaring of any excessive noise he may be producing; he hastily climbed all the way up, flinching slightly as someone –he didn't care who, as long as it wasn't Genis- dragged a chair across the floor.

Finally, he arrived the door giving access to the mansion's roof; he pulled on the handle, finding it already open. Mithos grinned and easily went up the last stepladder.

The nocturnal air must have been chilly, judging from the visible wisp of air coming out of his mouth when he breathed. Angels technically didn't have to inhale or exhale, and he was glad he remembered about this detail as he eyed the young swordsman.

Lloyd was sitting as far away as possible from the edge, his glaze locked on the stars despite how he was rubbing his arms and shivering. Mithos had heard the legendary tales about the boy being able to fall asleep in any situation –currently, his record was sleeping with two buckets in his hands while standing up and Raine teaching in a class full of noisy brats-, so maybe he was just trying to surpass himself.

The half-elf hoped the leader of the insurgent group wasn't _this _stupid. It would mean most of his subordinates were really even dumber than a person scoring a total of 25 points out of 400 at Palmacosta's Academy, or they were just less skilled than said country bumpkin.

Either way, both his organizations needed new recruits.

"Lloyd?" the young swordsman turned immediately at Mithos's concerned voice "What are you doing out here? It's freezing…"

The boy just gaped at him, surprised "Mithos! How did you find me?" he crawled toward him, his swords clacking against the tiles "I thought you were with Genis, or sleeping"

The half-elf smiled, hiding behind his gentle demeanour how frustrating Lloyd was being "Uhmm, instinct, I… Guess?" he shied away at the swordsman's touch, making him back away a little as well. It was still too early for a scared half-elf of Tethe'Alla to accept a human's presence so easily.

Lloyd chuckled embarrassed and massaged his nape "Oh… Sorry" he muttered, his eyes softening "You didn't have to look for me, really. I…" his voice lowered a little, but for Mithos it was still booming "I was just stargazing"

"_What are you doing, Master?" __the half-elf had sneaked behind Kratos as he seemed too busy staring at nothing, but the older soldier had caught his hands just fine before he could temporarily blind him._

_Kratos smiled, which made Mithos gasp in surprise "I was looking at the stars. Here" he spread his coat next to him, patting on the cloth afterward "Sit down, I'll show you"_

"…You must be really dedicated" the half-elf found himself smiling. The swordsman smiled back goofily, making some space next to him.

"If you don't feel like sleeping, we could watch them together!" he offered, pointing at his side. Mithos was going to decline quietly –he _didn't _like where this was going-, but then Lloyd smacked his forehead "Ah, I'm such an idiot!"

He crept back at his original sitting place, and picked a sheet up. The half-elf was ready to wish the swordsman goodnight and climb back in the mansion, and yet his body moved away from the entrance, waiting eagerly for Lloyd to come back.

"Here!" Mithos looked at the sheet now placed right below him "I don't have anything to cover you from the cold, though"

And there it was Lloyd's stupid grin plastered on his face. Seriously, the boy basically wore his heart on his sleeves, but _this_? It summed him up nicely. Anyone else could have understood on the spot what kind of idiotic, optimistic person Lloyd was. If he hadn't been a little bit good with those swords of his, if he hadn't been _Kratos's son_, he would have ended up dead years before…

_Kratos was pointing at various constellations and telling him their names, but Mithos just gave them rapid looks __when the man looked at him, since he spent the rest of the time staring at his teacher. _

"_Why do you like stars so much, Master…?" _

_Mithos's question seemed innocent enough to him, but Kratos's eyes suddenly lost their sparkles. The half-elf leaned in, murmuring "Master? Master, are you ok?" endlessly as the older man failed to answer._

Mithos waved his hands "It doesn't bother me! Well, not so much…" he sit down on the sheet the swordsman offered him. If he tried to protest against Lloyd giving up that piece of clothing for him, he would have surely beamed him with that stupid smile again and told him he was used to it.

That smile of him troubled the half-elf so much. At least _Genis_ wouldn't do it.

"Why do you like stars so much, Lloyd…?" he asked humbly, avoiding eye contact. The boy didn't know he was helping him by staring at the night sky again.

He puffed in his red gloves, and then rubbed them together "They're relaxing" he then pointed at a specific group of stars "And they're full of myths! Some are said to be even older than Mithos the Hero" he paused, scowling at himself "N-Not like I've got anything against Mithos the Hero, or your name, or…"

The half-elf sweat dropped, fighting the urge to face palm as well "I don't see why I should be offended by that" he watched amused Lloyd becoming more red after each second. He could see why Zelos and Genis found so amusing to tease him.

"Well…" the swordsman shook his bangs away from his face "Back in school, people would make fun of me or insult me for believing in old godmothers' superstitions" Mithos clenched his hands on instinct, anger slowly creeping up "Then there were the priests in every church or house of Salvation, berating me for following heathen beliefs. Colette and Genis tried more than once to get me "purify" my sins…"

"…_Stars are silent, but if they could talk, they'd reveal us the knowledge of the universe"_

_Mithos turned back sharply at Kratos's voice; with a shiver, he noticed it was the same apathetic voice he's heard out of him the first time they met "Stars are above us, immortal, watching us perpetually. They're above fate"_

_The half-elf sit down again slowly, trying to find comfort_ _in Yuan's or Martel's sight not far from them. However, Martel was sadly watching her open book, and it was obvious she wasn't reading it but listening to Kratos. Yuan just wrapped himself up in his sleeping bag._

"_Mine is probably just a delusion" the older man pursed his lips, and suddenly his voice was full of life again "But I like to think I can stand above fate as well when watching them, even if just for a second"_

"You'd be surprised..." Lloyd patted on his back, making Mithos turn to watch the previous constellation "I just needed to point at it and say "Look, that's called Volt's Belt", and they would all be on me"

"Oh, Volt, the Summon Spirit of Lightning you've made a pact with, right?" the half-elf clapped his hands together, not having to force himself to look interested. Which clearly _wasn't _normal, but he couldn't be bothered to keep his mind alienated from everything and everyone this time.

Lloyd nodded enthusiastic "There's no mention of Volt or other Spirits in the teachings of Martel aside from them being mindless extensions of Martel's powers. They're ranked even below the lowest angel" was it Mithos's impression, or was Lloyd's voice raising little by little? "I had _nothing _against the church or anything, and then…"

The swordsman's fists were shaking visibly "And then… And then suddenly Desians are part of Cruxis and they've been lying to everyone for thousands of years!"

Of _course_ they were, yet the half-elf refrained himself from mentally insulting Lloyd. Or else there would be no reason for the Chosen to go on the Journey, and no Chosen would mean no vessel for his sister. Since the Journey implied the Chosen's death, he had needed a strong motivation to push every human down the path he had created.

Even if it meant destroying the past and any documents behind it, condemning into oblivion countless lives that worked for a future now impossible. Humans and elves were going to _suffer _the destiny they've built themselves, and the worlds would be only his. Martel would be back and the old group would reform once again, this time in a world rid of discrimination.

"…But now…" Lloyd trembled violently before sneezing and cleaning his nose with his own shirt "I wonder _why _Yggdrasill is doing this"

Mithos's eyes widened in shock, but the swordsman didn't notice it, his eyes glassy and far "I-I don't even know who _Martel _is, after all. All this has been set up for her… I want to know"

"Lloyd, you…" the half-elf was genuinely surprised when the boy jumped at his voice, as he thought it was so low a normal human couldn't have heard it.

"But still, I think the whole system is wrong!" the swordsman snapped back, but only determination could be found in his tone, and no anger "The worlds are _dying_, everyone is running out of time, and I… I just can't stand watching and doing nothing!"

"_Mithos, I can't approve this r__ash behaviour of yours-"_

"_But, Master!" the half-elf extended his arms, standing in the middle of a devastated battlefield "All these corpses, all this blood… We can't let it continue without doing nothing! People are dying! We have to do something to change this system, it's WRONG!"_

_Kratos just sighed, defeated by his pupil's stubbornness._

Lloyd was _nothing_ like his father; he had inherited Kratos's eyes and features without a doubt, but they were so full of will and inner fire that he suddenly looked like a completely different person to Mithos.

He looked like the half-elf's younger self.

The illusion shattered all at once as Lloyd stood up, partially shielding Mithos behind him, growling at the newcomer "…_Kratos_!"

The seraphim had just landed on the roof as his blue wings could tell. The breeze was pushing the detached strands of his outfit in the air, so similar to Lloyd's white ones, and his hair, but the rest of his body wasn't moving.

Conveniently, his wild hair was covering his eyes, but Mithos could imagine them shifting from him to Lloyd back and forth.

He mentally laughed delighted: so he _was _right, Kratos was the one passing the information to Lloyd! And he just busted himself in front of the Leader of Cruxis now.

"…Lloyd" the seraphim approached the boy, prompting him to unsheathe his swords "I'm not here to fight you-"

"Right, you're just here to take Colette away!" Lloyd shouted, frowning at the older man "I won't let you!"

Kratos shook his head, biting his bottom lip "You're going to go to Meltokio's Castle Library tomorrow, won't you?" Lloyd merely gritted his teeth, refusing to answer. This was surely going to amuse Mithos to no end. "Then you should look up the chronicles on Mithos's journey-"

"Why do you _care_!" the swordsman yelled, tilting his swords a little. He was grasping them so hard his fingers must have gone numb by now "So you can take Colette once cured and bring her to _heaven_, won't you!"

The ex-mercenary walked up to his son a little, gripping the hilt of his sword in return. Mithos knew it was a tic of his –and of many other swordsmen they met during the journey-, but the boy backed a little, his hands now quivering.

"That half-elf…"

…Oh, he _wasn't _going to bust him, was he-

"He's a half-elf, yeah, so _what_?" Lloyd moved completely in front of Mithos, raising one of his weapon as he set himself in a fighting stance "So are Raine and Genis, _and I don't care_!"

Mithos grasped Lloyd's suspenders, squeezing the leather as his life depended on it. It wasn't the truth, but he had an appearance to keep on. The young swordsman winced at the touch and looked over his shoulder slightly.

"Mithos, when I distract him… Run inside and tell the others" he was pale and shaky, lowering his voice as much as possible in an attempt to talk with the half-elf without Kratos hearing them "I… I can't beat him, and if I fail I won't be able to protect you"

Dear Kharlan Tree… He was _serious_. His eyes didn't falter at all when he said that.

"No, Lloyd, I'm not going to attack either or you-" Kratos's eyes widened vaguely when the boy did his best to glare back at him and stepped forward.

"Why should I _believe_ you!" he yelled, and more than someone turned the lights on in their rooms as they all could see from the lighted windows "You… Angels like _you _destroyed his hometown! Are you here to _finish the job_?"

"No, I-"

"SHUT UP!" Lloyd slashed the air, a gust of mana forming on the blade and dashing toward Kratos mere moments after. In a split second, the seraphim's sword was out, crashing against the Demon Fang and dissipating it.

Now the group was out of their rooms and racing toward the roof, with Zelos loudly complaining about country bumpkins destroying the tiles of his roof. Kratos then sheathed his weapon and summoned his wings again.

"I won't let you do it!" Lloyd shouted against the ex-mercenary's back "I won't let you hurt any of my friends anymore! I swear it!"

The half-elf tugged on the boy's shirt, trying to get him to calm down now that the seraphim was flying away, his figure already almost invisible for a mortal eye.

"_And_ _I swear I'll protect Mithos from you and Cruxis!_"

Thankfully, the rest of the group then appeared and bombarded Lloyd with questions about what just happened. The half-elf used this situation to sneak back him, although he had felt like staying around a little more when his sight laid on Genis.

And then he was alone in his bedroom, listening to Raine physically dragging Lloyd back to his room and scolding him for staying _on his own out _in such a _cold night_, and that her magic couldn't have healed a cold or a flu or any other natural illness…

Finally, he smirked, now that there wasn't anyone possibly checking him. Oh, his master was so in for a good punishment once he was back in Welgaia!

But it couldn't have been just Kratos passing them information. Genis had talked about the leader of the Renegades wanting to take his hands on Lloyd… He decided to stick with the group a little longer, just for the time necessary to track down the other major cause of leaking data.

Someone rapped on his door.

"Mithos? Are you asleep?" he easily recognized Lloyd's voice, and went to the door to open it and invite him inside. He noticed the boy's swords were still strapped to his belts; at least, his master's lesson about not letting someone's guard down had somehow stuck to him.

"No, not really" the half-elf smiled and locked the entrance as soon as the boy was inside "Just a little surprised, I mean…" he looked down, clenching his white clothing as his lips quivered "…Just…"

And Yuan had told him so many times he couldn't act!

"I meant it, Mithos" Lloyd grabbed both his trembling hands. His stupid grin was nowhere to be found; instead, all the half-elf could see was a gentle smile "I won't let him or any other angel destroy your life _again_"

Mithos couldn't avert his eyes from the boy's gaze; it was just so intense, so _sincere_ it nearly hurt him inside, and yet he didn't want to miss any detail of them "We'll all change this system and save the worlds, together"

"…Together…?" where did Mithos's breath go, all of the sudden?

"_Together_"

And then the goofy grin was back again, but Mithos didn't judge it irritating anymore. His mind was completely lost elsewhere, trying to strain itself in both his past and the present and a possible future.

Maybe… Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he had just been piling mistakes after mistakes, and he stopped being sensitive to the bloodshed he once hated.

Maybe Lloyd was right, and he had been completely blind about his actions, masquerading them under a hypocrite cover of his past honour, his feelings for his sister –and their old group, just the four of them against the world- and his hatred against discrimination –which his organizations were fueling further.

And if Lloyd failed his quest, he whom was so similar to his past self, would he follow his path as well?

Mithos gulped. He had to get out of there, far away from Genis and Lloyd as soon as possible. Screw the Leader of the Renegades, there was still time for it.

Kratos was going to _pay_ dearly, both for leaking information and siring Lloyd.

* * *

><p><em>Now that I think about it, maybe the request was supposed to have <em>_some romanticism in it? I should have asked first, ugh. I'm sorry Shiroi Iyasu, I can re-do it if you want '''_

_I hope you __all enjoyed reading this piece. If you didn't, I'm sorry I've wasted your time._


	3. Game Over

_Someone complained about how disorganized this collection is. So I'm putting together only the one-shots that are related to each other instead of putting them all together to raise the word count._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters who appear in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

* * *

><p>Lloyd stepped backward immediately, flattening his back against the wall. There were some Desians patrolling back and forth in front of a specific room –and all of them had blue outfits, despite how Kvar had died long time before.<p>

"Maybe Desians are back in this blasted ranch due to whatever is in that room…?" Lloyd mumbled.

The boy smirked and unsheathed his swords slowly. No special marks or feathered helmets, those Desians were equipped only with whips and a crossbow. He could do it perfectly alone and easily come back to the rest of his group before they could notice his absence.

He hopped sideways, quickly slashing at the air as he screamed "Demon Fang!". The bolt of raw mana cracked the floor little before slicing its way through the nearest Desian, cutting part of his chest and arm off his body. The unfortunate soldier yelled and fell helplessly, blood spurting from his wounds under the shocked eyes of his comrades.

"How dare you…!" one of the Desians shouted, charging his crossbow. However, Lloyd was already darting past him; one of his blades stabbed a whipmaster through the heart, and the bloody end poked out of his back. The young swordsman pulled out the weapon and spun around, drawing circles in the air with the swords.

The remaining three Desians stumbled backward; the tip of the blades merely ripped part of their clothing, although one grunted due to the slit red line across his arm. This one ducked and picked up the still armed crossbow, hissing as Lloyd slammed his arm and shoulder against another Desian and shouted "Beast!". He lifted the weapon, aiming at the boy.

The last whipmaster flailed his whip toward Lloyd's back. The young swordsman quickly turned around and raised a sword; the whip rolled up on the blade. The Desian grinned madly "You're going down, inferior being!" he cried out, and jerked his whip aside. Lloyd tightened his grip on the hilt, gritting his teeth as he dug his feet firmly on the ground.

The other Desian fired the crossbow; Lloyd's eyes widened right after the dart jabbed into the spot between his shoulder and his lungs. "Gah-!" the cry escaped him before he could suppress it, and the sword flew away from his weakened grip.

Then he dashed forward again, gripping his other blade with both his hands and thrusting it in the Desian's bust. The whipmaster chocked, blood filling his mouth. Instead of extracting the sword out, Lloyd reached for the Desian's whip and easily took it off the dying grasp.

The trapped blade fell when he hit the air with the whip; nonetheless, the young swordsman cracked the long lash on the last soldier's back. The half-elf winced and let go of the crossbow, but Lloyd kept on flailing him; his back was soon exposed to the air and covered by bleeding and raw wounds.

Finally, the young swordsman casted the whip aside, panting and sweating. He recovered both his swords and thrust the blade into the blade into the Desian's neck. The soldier stopped whimpering at last.

"…Damn it!" Lloyd muttered softly, eyeing the arrow embedded below his shoulder. With a flinch, he painfully pulled the dart out; at least, he sighed in relief as he rubbed an apple gel on the wound, which closed nearly instantly afterward. All that was left was a dull throbbing where the injury was.

The boy then looked at the small entrance; he frowned, munching on his bottom lip. It didn't look any different from the other doors he had previously seen in Kvar's ranch to him, yet there had been five Desian guards guarding it.

"Maybe it was one of those "_Looks can be de… De…_" He shook his head "Well, "_Don't always trust looks_" moments the Professor often tells us about…" Lloyd raised a fist in the air, satisfied with his own conclusion "Yeah. That must be it!"

He cleaned off the blood spilled on his cheek and stepped forward the door. It slid in the wall without asking for any identification, which cheered the young swordsman. He gingerly entered the room, hands gripping the hilts of his swords in case more Desians were to jump on him.

The room was small and, apparently, devoid of any other living presence aside from Lloyd. He walked past two boxes, which were bigger than he was, standing next to the entrance; suddenly, he heard some beeps coming from them, and the lights on them turned green.

Lloyd's whole body tensed, his limbs frozen in the current spot. But nothing else happened, no battle machines or soldiers coming out from anywhere after hearing what could have been an automatic alarm. It was just him, the deafening silence reigning in the room, and the giant computer in front of him, which had at least three monitors floating over the giant keyboard.

"This thing must take half of the place!" the young swordsman advanced over the spherical platform; he glanced at the keyboard, hovering his finger over the buttons "Are these… Runes?" he blinked, following the nonsensical trail of symbols under his hand "I wish the Professor was here now…"

"Well, it doesn't hurt to try, does it?" Lloyd randomly pushed some buttons; he kept his eyes on the screens all the time in case it turned out he had started yet another self-destruction process.

However, no new information was loaded on the monitors. The young swordsman kept on typing, growing steadily frustrated at his lack of success "You're such a stubborn machine, you know that?" he growled, then he puffed his anger out "Ok, ok. I give up. I'm no good with these things, better go back to-"

"_Host body accepted. -Back-Up- program: Online_"

"What the-WHOA!" metallic tubes suddenly circled his limbs, lifting him in the air. Lloyd jerked against the constraints instinctively; the door then loudly closed behind him, panic crushing his heart as more tubes rolled up again and again on his arms, legs, chest and neck. The young swordsman's body was rapidly straightened up completely; his hands were tied over his head. The restraining prevented him even from moving his head or twitching his fingers.

Two panels slowly descended from above; they rotated around Lloyd, whom was inspiring as deep as possible and trying to keep his breathing normal. Brute force wasn't going to lead him anywhere, specially how he couldn't even reach his swords. He needed to think with a clear mind. He needed to-

The three monitors flashed; grid images of the boy appeared on them, along with the information stored about the Criminal -00074-. "Just perfect!" Lloyd jerked his arms again for his swords, but the grip on his limbs didn't falter. "C'mon, let me go already!" he yelled, trashing around.

"_Analyse of the host body: Complete. No deformities found_"

Something appeared on his line of sight, covering the monitors and machine from his vision. At the same time, something else pressed on his mouth as well, suffocating his last mean of requesting from help. Lloyd shivered; his blood and body were suddenly cold. All he could see was pitch black darkness…

He bit on whatever was pushing against his mouth; something, _something _jabbed in his forehead, in both his temples. Pain erupted in his head, pounding against his skull as if it was trying desperately to escape. He clenched his eyes shut tightly, the motion bringing him no release or distraction from the increasing, blinding throbbing.

Then those _things _jabbed into his forehead and temples again and again and again and again and again. They didn't stop. _They didn't stop!_ He was sure there was blood dripping down all over his face now. However, it was nothing compared to the fire devouring everything in his mind.

"…_Erasing… Preparing… Back-up…_"

_Genis turned around, shifting his position on his chair "What is it, Lloyd? You haven't done your homework again, have you?"_

_The young swordsman looked at him. The midget mage was grinning delighted, maybe waiting for him to confirm his intuition. But nothing came to mind._

_Did he do his homework? He found himself not remembering anything about this "homework"._

"_Ehi, ehi Lloyd" Genis was frowning now. Genis? His name was Genis, right? "What's the matter with you today? Are you this worried Sis is gonna punish you? Well…" the elf scratched his cheek slightly "You should be! Although you never cared about your homework before…"_

_Lloyd didn't understand what was the midget mage talking about. If he looked around, though, he could see he was in a schoolroom. The other kids around were chatting; one was writing something on the chalkboard: "I won't insult my classmates' families" about 50 times._

_Next to the midget mage, a blonde girl was beaming him with a smile._

"_Hello Lloyd! You arrived on time today!" Colette… Colette? The Chosen One? was talking to him as if they knew each other "I can't wait for Professor Raine to teach us many new things today!"_

"_But he didn't do his homework" the midget mage pouted "She's going to make you stand with two buckets full of water again, Lloyd! And he'll fall asleep. And he won't learn anything, again"_

_Lloyd?_

_That name was familiar… He was sure he had heard it recently._

"_Don't worry Genis!" the blonde girl was now addressing the midget kid "The Professor will make sure he'll stay awake… Chalk… Journey of Regeneration…"_

_Their voices were distant and distorted. Flames were burning the images of the two interlocutors, along with the rest of those pitiful humans and that waste of a wooden schoolroom. No one seemed to notice as they were reduced into ashes._

_Once again, he was the only one aware of what was going on. Not that he cared much; the sooner that disgusting sight was far from him, the better._

_He didn't want to waste time with those inferior beings. _

_They weren't even host bodies._

…

"_-Back-Up- program: Complete_"

His feet touched the ground again; the tubes were already being rewound in their rightful places, hidden from the intruders' eyes. He tilted his head left and right, hearing some cracks coming from the stiff neck. Then he typed something in the computer, and the current program shut down immediately.

He strained his senses; but as he felt his ears ringing, he made a disgusted noise. He couldn't feel mana around him. It could only mean that…

"Computer, I need a mirror" he ordered. The lights glowed as if they were showing the order had been received without problems; seconds later, a reflecting surface was turned toward him. He trailed his fingertips on his reflection; the wild, brown chocolate hair matching the boy's eyes, those features whose original owner he had grown to hate, that red shirt with way too many buttons on it, partially covered by suspenders since the pants were too long for that body.

And the long-lost blue exsphere of his Angelus Project.

"This is quite the irony" he glared at the human ears of the body. His fingers dug into the surface and scratched it as he pulled his hand down "…And _inconvenience_"

He snapped his fingers back at the system, his voice veiled with anger "Computer, update my profile _immediately_. Send a request for a private conversation with Pronyma. I need to sort this situation out as soon as possible, understood?"

The boy stormed out of the room immediately after, not stopping to acknowledge the faint "_Understood, Lord Kvar_" of the machine.

* * *

><p><strong>[PART 2]<strong>

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><p>He passed a hand again over his hair, flattening it against the skull. Promptly, it stood up again as spiky and unruly as it was before. He smacked the case, smashing it against a wall and spreading gel all over the floor; he didn't care, he was too busy scowling at his own reflection.<p>

"This is impossible!" he snarled, grasping the hair with both his hands and keeping it down. "It _defies _Gnome's force! It. Won't. Stay. _Down!_" he remarked angrier and angrier at each word, specially when the hair sprung up like nothing happened the same second he let it go.

Then he blinked equally lost at such excessive reaction. No no no no no no, that wouldn't do _at all_. Getting worked up just because of a genetic trait –although the father of this body had its hair hanging down, at least- was so stupid, such a waste of energy, an ineffective respond that would take all his attention away from the _important_ thing; it was so… So…

"**Argh!**" he yanked the loose ends of his outfit –the ones on his arms, as all his clothes were two sizes bigger than him. Nothing was in order, _nothing_, starting from his head and well beyond his toes; he was barred from using magic, his soldiers looked at him up and down before double-checking the system's updates, Pronyma and Cruxis were out of his reach and his wardrobe was now perfectly useless.

And he could hear his own hair silently mocking his attempts at taming it, which was making him _fume _in frustration.

He kicked the air; the boot immediately went flying and landed on the other side of the room. _Time to calm down… Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out… Slower now…_

There _was _something more urgent than that stupid disobedient hair. He understood it immediately the second he woke up in his still-experimental room of _Re-Birth_, and by how his last memories were about him going to bed enraged over how his ranch had been raided twice during the same day.

He, Kvar the Fury Tempest, had been killed. His broken body had been blasted away by the explosion that had torn down the upper section of his base –as far as the remaining Desians told him. _Then _the Chosen's group had punctually come back as more Desian troops had arrived at the place –since they had to choose, protect and escort the host body that would have inherited his recorded memories and personality.

Oh yeah, and the Chosen One had turned out she didn't want to be a sacrifice or something after all, so she had run away with the group. And they hadn't been able to catch her so far.

Except that Kratos's brat just _had _to interfere with his perfectly organized program, and following the old protocol was no longer a possibility. _He _surely didn't want another self walking down in the same universe. So the brat's body would do just fine –if the green-haired bitch just answered his calls and sent him some Aionis.

The door hummed softly while he was still putting the boot in its rightful place and strapping it as tight as possible so that he wouldn't fling it while running.

"Ehm… Milord?" his left eye twitched at how insecure and forced that "milord" sounded like. "Our low-ranked soldiers reported the presence of the Chosen's group nearby the base."

The door opened effortlessly as soon as the young Grand Cardinal dabbed the staff on it –thanks Maxwell his men had recovered it intact, albeit with minor burns here and there. The helmets of the Desians in front of him were richly decorated with golden feathers, and the symbol on the top right corner of their jackets revealed their relatively high rank. Not Generals –Kratos had killed one of them, and his men had given higher priority to the Back-up program than to replace their other fallen leader-, but their skills and authority were still tremendously useful.

He ran a thumb over the rugged surface of his beloved staff. He hated how they stared at him still in disbelief –and mostly, how he needed them more than anything else right now. The brat used to fight with twin swords and without magic, and his body remembered it very well; he could do little use of his _own _weapon at the moment.

"Given the hour," he began, startling trained warriors whom were used at a completely different voice and look when answering to their Cardinal. "It is my belief they won't attempt to infiltrate the ranch. They may be even stronger than they were when they originally stormed _my _base, but an assault in the middle of the night is _begging _to be ambushed, it doesn't matter whether they'd end up attacked by monsters or by animals or by us"

He impulsively clacked the thin end of the staff on the floor. The small group of Desians suddenly relaxed at said motion; even his eyes were flashing in the same way they used to when the Cardinal was angry, despite how they were completely different both in the colour and in the shape.

"There are high probabilities they're unaware of this side of the ranch and why you're all coming back here –and most important, the ultimate fate of their previous leader," he said matter-of-factly as he pushed those damn locks out of his sight. "Make _sure _they don't have the possibility to get to know all of this –or that they will discover it _too late_."

The Desians nodded in acknowledge. "What about the half-elves travelling in the group, sir? Do we…"

He barely repressed his need to spit; he set for a grimace and a low snarl in its place. "Those _traitors _of their own kin? I want to see them dead as well! Do not falter only because they're half-elves like us!"

He could feel their gaze travelling to his now human ears, but it didn't matter. Or so he tried to tell himself as blood raced to his face in embarrassment; being a human in a _half-elven _organization was truly appalling, specially how his –the brat's- body oozed of inferior mana for the disgust of any person with elven blood.

"As… You say, Lord Kvar."

There, Kvar nearly groaned inwardly at the soldier's voice: it was full of veiled repugnance. What did he deserve to have such idiotic _fools _under his command? Then he again, he couldn't get himself to destroy their point of view. In a world bent on killing any person of their kin, it made their internal bonding stronger.

Too bad there were also those pesky half-elves who _seriously _believed they could live in peace among humans. Those were the worst, and most of his soldiers thought they were just mistaken and needed to be brought on the right way again. The reason they couldn't just blast them into oblivion, once it was clear those half-elves were only and would have always been a nuisance, was above him.

They made to retreat when a sudden thought crossed his mind. "Stop there!" he ordered, and thankfully they obeyed, despite the recent disastrous move. "Is there _Lord _Kratos with them?" he made sure to pour as much hatred as possible in that single word.

The Desians shivered as they gripped their weapons tighter; that human traitor had probably killed most members of their families as well, or left them crippled forever. "N-no, milord. He was nowhere to be found."

_Nowhere to be found…_

He glanced casually at the closed door behind him. He couldn't really see what was behind him from that position, but every detail of the current state of his quarters were printed in his memory. For a bizarre reason, the eye of his mind was completely focused on the brat's outfit he had longed to burn in the incinerator.

…_No, that would be completely stupid and pointless._

Yet, it wouldn't stop nagging in the back of his mind.

"You two," he pointed at the Desians right in front of him, who were taken aback. "You shall accompany me as back-up. We're going to _pay a visit _to the Chosen's group from far away."

"M-milord?"

"I don't accept a negative answer. We shall depart once I've changed myself into a…" he trembled a little at the thought of getting those horrible clothes on again. "More suitable setup for the occasion."

* * *

><p>The twin swords clacked annoyingly at his sides at any step he took; it was even worse when he had to open his way through bushes and plants. How the hell that boy managed to stand it… And they were highly impracticable, other than requiring a fighting style created specifically for them. He hoped the boy had had a very convincing explanation for going through this stupid charade with those irksomely pieces of metal that were grinding hard on his mind and ears.<p>

At least, he had managed not to trip on them so far. Doing so in case any member of the Chosen's group was nearby would have been a dead give-away.

_What am I doing here, again?_

Oh yes, there was that nagging feeling that was telling him he could have taken advantage of that. _How_, well, that was a completely different question. Or maybe he just needed a reason to keep those hideous clothes on while waiting for more fitting ones to be prepared for him.

Then, a rustle of leaves. He stopped immediately, signalling to the two Desians behind him to get cover. They obeyed instantly, disappearing from anyone's view –as long as that anyone wasn't a fellow half-elf. In that case, they could have just rammed their blades in his, or her, chest to death.

_Magnius and this brat could have gotten along very well. They were both idiots lusting after battles, even the useless ones. __**Mostly **__the useless ones._

"Ah, ouch!" a feminine voice exclaimed, and a small "thud" was soon heard afterwards. The Cardinal raised an eyebrow at the singular noise –you don't hear something like that in a forest everyday, after all-, but didn't move.

Soon, a blonde girl –covered with once-white clothing of the church, which was now green and brown- emerged from a bush at his side. His insides jerked a little.

…_The Chosen One herself? Alone? Dear Maxwell, don't tell me…. _

"Lloyd!" unfortunately for the Cardinal, the blonde Chosen's fingers successfully intertwined in his red clothing when she had lurched forward; then she grasped one of the scarves and yanked on it, making him lose his footing. He was so going to rip those white strands at the first occasion.

They both fell on their backs on the soiled ground. As he turned his head around to face her and yell at her, though, the Chosen dived more behind him, pressing her lips against his shoulder. "Eh eh. Hi Lloyd!"

He raised her eyebrow at her, but for the rest his expression was perfectly blank. That… The Chosen One… The longer he looked at her, the more she blushed.

_Alone, unguarded and with a crush on the former owner of this body. How did –they- manage to miss her for all this time? How? __**How?**_

"Oh!" she smacked her forehead, although she smiled immediately afterward. "Silly me! All the others are looking for you, Lloyd! We were all worried when you disappeared and didn't come back, we thought… I thought…"

"Breathe," he said, perhaps way harsher than the brat would have liked. As if he cared, he wasn't the brat and he wasn't going to waste one single minute pretending to be him. He quickly got up on his feet and glared at the Chosen, whom was still lying on the mud. "Your face is turning red. Calm yourself down."

Now she stared at him blankly and with wide eyes. All she could mumble was a soft: "Uhm… Uhm…"

The Chosen silently got back on her bottom, yet she didn't make any motion to actually stand up. As a matter of fact, she was more interested in admiring his facial features. He scowled inwardly, eyes rolling in the opposite direction.

She chuckled again, taking a hold on a pendant he hadn't notice before and bringing it near her lips. "Thank you, Lloyd…"

His eye twitched and he strained his lips, annoyed. That was better not going to be completely sappy on him, or he was _so_ going to split her head in two with the brat's sword on the moment, Chosen One of Cruxis or not.

_Don't let yourself be influenced by the brat's hormones; that was Magnius's speciality._ _Breathe. Breathe slower, slower. Count until 10-_

"I thought I l-lost you, again…" Colette brushed off a tear that had formed in the corner of her eye, smiling. "I'm s-so happy I was wrong, thank you, thank you…"

… _Make that 1000. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…_

She finally stood up, still clinging on that horrible red jewel of hers and beaming at the Cardinal. The Chosen One slowly pressed it against her lips. "How stupid of me, right? I'm sorry for doubting you couldn't make it, Lloyd!"

… _Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen…_

She leaned forward a little, and giggled. _Giggled_. He wasn't doing anything and she was _giggling_. "I know!" she clapped her hands together. "It's the perfect occasion to tell Genis to make something special tonight! Oh, without tomatoes of course!"

… _Twenty-six, twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty, thirty-one…_

"Oh, how about Dwarven Potluck?" she tilted her head to one side, her eyes drifting to look at an imaginary panorama. "Regal could make it for us again! But we'd have to take the Professor's keepsakes away, the last time he put one of them in the soup…"

…_**Fourty-three, fourty-four, fourty-fi-**_

She grabbed his arm tightly, her smile softening a little as a shade of sadness descended on her eyes. "Don't disappear like this again, ok Lloyd?"

It was _more _than he could stand; snarling, he pushed her away with force, sending her on her bottom on the hard ground. A hand of his instinctively went to grab his left sword, and he swiftly pointed it at the Chosen's throat.

He snapped his fingers immediately, not wanting to give the blonde girl any precious time to recover; the Desians jumped from their hiding places and took a grip on each arm of the Chosen, roughly lifting her from the earth.

"It's _incredible_ how you can challenge directly the limits of my patience, and _win_," the Cardinal growled, re-sheathing the blade. That body may be used to fighting with them, but he had largely missed the girl's throat even though he had wanted to slice it open. The sooner he got re-used to his staff, the better.

At least, that dreamy and smiling face of hers was gone for good.

"Lloyd…" she muttered as her legs shuddered, refusing to let her run away. "Lloyd, what's wrong? Please… I swear we didn't want to leave you behind, why are you doing this-"

"_Chosen One,_" she gulped; now even her arms were staying in place, instead of trying to jerk the soldiers aside. It was a great improvement for the Cardinal, who grinned wickedly at her. He could hear her heart stopping right there as he grasped that ugly pendant from her neck and hold it in front of her eyes. "I'm no Lloyd. I'm not that pathetic brat _inferior _friend of yours. My name is _Kvar_, and you shall address me in such way with the _proper honorific._"

"_NO!_"

Colette shifted again in the soldiers' grasp, smacking one of them away; he fell immediately unconscious some meters far from them, blood dripping down the chin from his mouth. The young Cardinal stepped backward before the Chosen One could send the other panicking Desian flying as well; in the motion, the thin string of the pendant snapped.

The blond girl gasped in horror and keeled over as her hands missed the jewel in the Cardinal's grasp for a few centimetres. Her wings burst aflame on her back, the muscles of her face relaxing as all emotion slipped away from her eyes, leaving dull red irises behind.

Then she stood there, lifeless and motionless, her vacant sight not fixed on anything in particular. The Cardinal's heart slowly crawled back in his chest; as he unconsciously rubbed the surface of the jewel with his thumb, something clicked in his mind.

He threw the broken pendant on the soil and stomped on it, the heel of the boot cracking the birthday gift in small pieces. He kept on stomping until there was more red dust than solid rock and the enchant on the fabric was unreadable and disconnected.

"Mpf," he kicked the remnants of the pendant; some of them rolled under the cracks on the ground, far from people's sights. "Serves you right, _Chosen One._" The Desian soldier was at his side again before he could even snap his fingers, which made his grin widen. "Take your unconscious companion, we're going back to the ranch with the Chosen One."

"Isn't that right," he leaned in, his unruly locks tickling Colette's forehead slightly. It didn't even make her eyes stir. "My dear hollow husk of a shell?"

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><p><em>[OLD AUTHOR'S NOTES]<em>

_So, for anyone who's interested, I could end up uploading flash-fics that have nothing to do with Lloyd in the long run. FCs will be kept at minimum –they might pop up only when strictly necessary. I'll make sure that means "Never!" for this collection. I've got loads and loads of Desian –and one/two non Desian- FCs, but I do understand that people want to read about Lloyd & co. when checking Tales of Symphonia fanfics, not random people who came out of nowhere._


	4. Request 2

_Some Zelos/Lloyd I wrote on request. Nothing really special, I didn't know what to do with them at the time._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters who appear in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

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><p>The red-headed Chosen curled his lip, appalled. There they were his dear jubblies and little angel basically plastering themselves against Lloydie, and the bumpkin country just <em>wasn't understanding<em> _anything_.

"So Lloyd, what do you think we should do next?" Sheena leaned in closer to Lloyd –maybe closer than she realized-, and casually shuffling her cards in her hands. Instead, the red-claded _idiot_ was staring at the black chest which contained the Gates of Hell. If _he _had been in his place, he would have been looking at a completely different view.

…At least, a more pleasant one than a creepy, bone-y chest which could be opened only by a cursed key.

"We can't stop now!" little Colettie was immediately at Lloyd's side, battling her huge blue eyes. Not that it looked sexy –but compared to Sheena, who was the epitomeness of the pure glory of the squishies, she was just damn adorable. And some people prefer adorable cuties over hot temptresses. "We have to gather all the Devil's Arms! We promised that to Abyssion!"

Lloydie McLloyd Lloyd, however, was eyeing rosebud quite worried "Presea, is… Is this all right for you? I mean, those headaches, and…"

Of _course_ it wasn't alright, Bud. But again, Colettie was already pestering him "Lloyd! We promised! We can't leave him against such cruel fate! We… We have to save him!" Zelos shook his head at such sight. The little angel's voice was just murdering his eardrums, but no one of them was supposed to know about it. After witnessing Colettie turn into an angel little by little, the mere knowledge of him possessing senses more developed than a normal human would immediately give him away.

Presea's eyes twitched a little. That was the only sign she would give when there was something _wrong_ going with her. However, it was impossible for his companions to even see that, and Colette was too busy clinging on Bud to notice.

"We never talked about giving up on collecting the Devil's Arms!" Zelos wondered why Sheena didn't just thrust herself against Lloyd's still free arm; Lloydie wouldn't have understood how they were both unconsciously flirting with him anyway. _Someone _else, however, the gorgeous Professor and the dandy President were staring speechless at the show. The Professor was even face palming and muttering how _dense _Bud was.

Seriously, there was a picture of Lloyd next to that word when someone looked up that word in the dictionary.

"Ok everyone, time out now!" the red-headed Chosen took the advantage Sheena decided to ignore –he grasped Lloydie's free arm and pulled him toward him. Colettie at last lost her grasp on the swordsman's limb; her lost and hurt expression nearly made Zelos laugh. He settled for a cruel smirk "If our cuties here wants to wrestle themselves against a manly body, I'm always available "

Now _that _got both jubblies and little angel madly red, both in barely conceited rage –although that one only in Sheena's case- and shame –mostly for Colette-. He got Lloyd nestled under his arm and winked at the two girls. Jubblies had already got her new cards out, but she eyes him with rage since he still had Lloyden at his side.

Zelos couldn't suppress his laughter anymore; the whole "Devil's arms" and "creepy evil chest" thingies were already forgotten. All was good and fun again.

Gorgeous beauty Raine clapped her hands over her pupils' heads "It's getting late, it's better if we get out of the Temple of Earth and camp outside" defeated, both the girls hanged their heads lower. Presea merely walked away behind Regal and Raine, the hopeless midget brat running after her and asking almost every second if she was alright and if there was anything he could have done for her.

"Ah, thank you Zelos" the young swordsman whispered once Colette and Sheena were gone too, leaving them alone. Lloyd's soft voice startled the red-headed Chosen. He hadn't spoken at all since he wrangled him away from jubblies and little angel, and he wasn't expecting him to thank him. He thought he was going to ask him to let him go annoyed.

Zelos smiled instinctively, his chest constricting painfully with no apparent reason "Ehi, no problem there. You're my Bud!"

"But still…" Lloyd scratched the back of his neck sheepishly "What was all that about? I was just concerned about Presea, and suddenly they were all-"

The red-headed Chosen wasn't in the best position to bash his face against a wall –besides, it would have ruined his handsome features!-, so he decided to narrow his eyes; his smile curled too much, ending up in an irritated sneer "Lloyd, you're so innocent! Are you sure you're seventeen years old?" he raised the other hand at Lloydie McLloyd Lloyd before he could speak "My dear Bud, when the girlies grow up they get interested in _other _aspects of a man… And jubblies and little angel are targeting _you_"

"Uh? Are you saying they want me to show them how to carve charms with wood?"

…And people would find Lloyd-ster's picture next to the word "naïve" in the dictionary as well.

"No-no-no-no-no" the red-headed Chosen waved his hand anxiously in front of Lloyd's puzzled face "Do you know how the other hunnies speak to me when we're in the city, my dear Bud?" the young swordsman pouted in disgust. Did the boy still think girls had cooties or _what_? "They're so flirty and they want me to give them attention and… _Something else_"

The boy nodded "What of it?"

Zelos gasped dramatically; he lightly touched his forehead, shaking his head and talking as if he was going to faint from one moment to another "Dear Martel! Grant your light to this little lost kid!" he turned around to face Lloyd, leering again "Sheena and Colette are doing the same thing with you, Lloyd. They're _flirting_ and want you to pay them attention"

"But Presea is the one suffering from the Devil's Arms"

The Chosen twitched. New tics formed on his forehead; he was _so _going to get some wrinkles on his beautiful features if he kept on frowning this much. _Don't get mad, don't get mad, he's just a country bumpkin who hasn't been taught the tales of the Bird and the Bees…_

"And I'm not interested in this _flirting_ thing, whatever it is" Lloyd shrugged his shoulders; that was when Zelos noticed the swordsman had made no move to get out from under the weight of his arm. Instead, he was looking straight at him "I don't know what you find in those squawking women around you, but if Sheena and Colette end up like that, I'll blame you!"

"Oooh, so my Bud prefers the shy, quiet type!" the Chosen took the boy in a crushing bear-hug out of happiness for making some steps forward "I'm so proud of you, Bud! I'm going to teach you anything you need to become the perfect gentleman for your future hunnies!"

Even though he was gasping for air, Lloyd grinned back at him "I don't understand what you're talking about, but… Thank you?"

"You'll come to appreciate the efforts the Great Zelos Wilder is doing for you, my Bud!" he let go of Lloyd and turned around toward the exit "C'mon now, or the Gorgeous Highness will have our scalps"

"Zelos…"

Why was Lloyd's voice so _low_ now? He probably wasn't meant to hear it, but he was already answering before he could pull himself together "Yes, Lloyd?"

The young swordsman shuddered at that. Zelos was definitely not supposed to be able to hear that, but it was too late "Well" the boy stumbled on his words, suddenly licking his lips as if they were dry out of the blue "You're a good guy, Zelos. I like you"

Thanks Martel the red-headed Chosen was giving him his back and that Lloyd had no angelic ears, he didn't need him to hear how much his heart was beating now.

"Of course Lloyd, there's _no _person who could not like me!" Zelos's voice was way too high; but alas, Lloyd's picture could be found next to the word "Stupid" as well. He wouldn't be able to catch the difference in his demeanour, would he?

Next thing he knew, Lloyd had rushed to the exit in front of him, nearly stomping for all his way and grinning "…I meant it Zelos! Now race you to the camp, the loser will have to sit through the Professor's whole lesson about ruins and old history!"

"Ehi- ehi, not fair Bud! You don't say that _after_ running past me!"

Too bad there wasn't a line for "Full of surprises" inside dictionaries with Bud's photo as well. But that could have been his personal, private picture.

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><p><em>[OLD AUTHOR'S NOTES]<em>

_The second one is just a try –it's the first time I wrote anything Zelos/Lloyd (with implied ZelosxLloyd). It was also a request of my brother's girlfriend –although she thought Zelos was actually a girl, oops. (Edit: I've removed the last line from the second one-shot, since it wasn't just me who thought it clashed a little...)_

_I'm still open for requests: if you want me to write any one-shot you want down, just ask for it._


	5. Curse

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters who appear in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

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><p>Lloyd snapped the boots closed and then re-adjusted the twin belts on his waist; his heels scraped against the rock in front of him as he leaned his back on the thick bush behind. He sighed, eyeing the top of the trees, as they completely blocked a view of the sky and prevented the light from penetrating the forest.<p>

"Ok, guys…" he murmured, turning his head around to stare at various points above the empty path. "There aren't anymore Papal Knights nearby, right?" Lloyd grabbed the leather bag and rummaged through it, taking out a small amount of apple gel that he gulped down immediately. "Colette, do you hear anything?"

His glassy eyes fell in a spot next to his right side; the leaves cracked slightly at the dim wind flowing through them. He grinned. "No? Good! Now we can leave this place all together!"

Lloyd stood up, slapping away some dead branches that had previously fell on him. "Uh," he pulled on the torn, red clothing hanging from his shoulders back on the arms. The pathetic shreds didn't cover the skin, which was so bruised and dirty it had assumed a violet shade. The clothing fell again as soon as he moved his limbs. "I'll have to put a patch on it as soon as we set a camp up…"

Limping, he walked down the barely visible path; the bag, barely secured on his left shoulder with one white strap, hanged back and forth, the few items left in it clattering against each other.

Lloyd blinked and narrowed his eyes repeatedly in a vane attempt of getting the road ahead him into focus, but the faded details of bushes, overgrown roots and occasional evil eyes spying him from time to time were completely drowned in a dark mist.

Finally, as he arrived at yet another junction, he glanced at a ray of light coming through all the foliage. "Oh, Professor, we could recharge the Sorcerer's Ring here!" Lloyd shouted enthusiastic as he passed his left fingers where the Sorcerer's Ring once was. He had worn it on his right medium finger, which had been ripped off long before. Only a pitiful, ring-less piece of meat was left in its place.

The boy extended the hand under the light, smiling down at the limb. He sighed at the warmth flooding through his veins, and hummed delighted.

"Genis, why don't you throw some fireballs of yours, so we can all warm up a little? It's freezing here!" the swordsman looked happily over his shoulder, before setting for a pout. "Why not? Burning the whole forest down to the ground sounds awesome! Don't you agree, Sheena?"

Then he hanged his head low, shielding part of the forehead as if he's been hit. "I get it, I get it! I didn't think about Mizuho, I'm sorry!" he sighed a little, then set his foot on the right side of the junction. "We… Already went to the left, didn't we?" He walked up a small bunch of rocks, which had been positioned one over the other to create a little pyramid. After kneeling down to double-check, Lloyd put the fallen stones back in their place. "Thanks god Genis had the idea to leave a trace behind!"

Again, he turned around to look with a fond expression at no one. His hand reached out for a child's hair, but it merely grasped hair; not that Lloyd seemed to notice, as his limb continued the motion like normal.

"Don't get so excited now. Overconfidence breeds carelessness, remember?" he said, tapping what was supposed to be the tip of a child's nose. He made some steps backward, raising the hand which once wore the Sorcerer's ring up, over his head. The boy rolled the limb into a fist, pointing the imaginary artefact at a dense branch, fully swarmed by little insect.

It didn't budge; yet Lloyd grinned and stepped forward.

A giant axe made its way through the nearest plant, slashing it into little pieces; its owner, a little child with pink hair and pigtails, ran through the newly open passage. She turned around anxiously and panting, sweet rolling down her livid cheeks as her legs suddenly were as rigid as logs.

"Presea!" a well-built man caught up with the girl, smacking the remnant of a coffin away. "Presea, what happened? Why did you-"

"I…" Presea gulped down some saliva, trembling as her wide eyes were hopelessly locked on the giant branch. "I thought… No! I'm sure I saw Lloyd here, Regal!"

The older man inspired sharply; his eyes darkened as pain crossed his face. He looked down at the Sorcerer's ring, which seemed to sparkle on his right medium finger.

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><p><em>It was supposed to be longer, but I cut it short because it had lots much of its impact after a certain point.<em>


	6. Locket

_I've been reading one too many "let's sum up the whole story in a single, long -10k, 20k words- chapter!" fanfics._

_So yeah, this was supposed to be one of them. In the end it has been divided into chapters. I doubt I'll need more than 3, 4 chapters for this._

_Warning, massive __**AU**__ and probably OoC as well. The initial prompt was "What if Lloyd had Kratos's locket since the beginning?", then it derailed into something completely different for now. The locket will play more importance later._

_Also, dates and all have been thrown out of the windows. I've considered only the one of the Oracle, which happens on Colette's 16th birthday._

_**Disclaimer:**__I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters who appear in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

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><p>Little Lloyd Irving was only five, but he already knew many scary things.<p>

He knew the human village nearby didn't like his dad that much and wanted him to stay away most of the time. No human would willingly approach them to give them the pleasure of a visit –no, they'd always come to ask his father to create something for them. And his father would accept, since only his job would give them the money necessary to live.

Lloyd also knew their pretty home –dad had built him a nice wooden house so he didn't have to live underground- was in the middle of the forest. A forest which was constantly roamed by monsters, so people without weapon training seriously risked their life only to enter the woods. Once dad crafted a sword for a young traveller, just to find his bloody and gutted body thrown in all directions while coming back from the human market.

Desians –half-elves which tortured and killed humans for fun- also lived nearby. Dad had always scolded him to not go near the Human Ranch –and he didn't obey. At times, he still woke up screaming at night and dad had to keep him in a hug for hours to make him calm down.

As he was currently sitting next to the river and fidgeting a small, golden locket –Lloyd knew dad wasn't really his dad, not by blood at least. The locket snapped open, revealing the picture of a stern yet gentle man and a beaming woman holding a baby between them.

"Daddy," Lloyd babbled as he hold the locket in the air, "Mommy."

Mommy, he knew her name was Anna, was dead. Dad had found her body and had buried her so she could rest. A grave was placed upon her, so Lloyd could find where she was sleeping and talk to her. It didn't matter she couldn't answer, the child knew she was listening to everything he said.

Daddy –now that was the mystery. Dad never found him –or his body- with Lloyd and Noishe and Anna. Maybe the Desians caught him as he covered his family's desperate escape, or they outright killed him and stashed his body along all those thinly, deathly pale prisoners somewhere. Maybe in their incinerators.

After he heard dad mouth that possibility, Lloyd tried to carve the name "Kratos" next to Anna, but only a light scratch could be seen under perfect light. He then apologized to his mommy for not being able to write his daddy's name perfectly, and for how they couldn't find daddy's body too and she had to stay all alone underground.

He also knew Irving wasn't his birth surname –dad gave him his when he adopted the toddler at the tender age of three. But he couldn't remember which his surname was supposed to be, mommy didn't live long enough to tell and both his parents never addressed each other or him by surname.

It made him sad at times, noticing how his memories of mommy and daddy were fading away and he couldn't on them long enough to make sense out of the fog. By the time dad introduced him to the art of writing, most of them had become something less than an unfocused flash.

"I'm making progress, daddy!" Lloyd exclaimed all happy. "Dad said I can now write letters without problems! I'm gonna write all my memories!"

There was some boasting in his words –true, he could write, but words didn't make sense all the time. Dad would sat down with him and point out which word meant what. But he was there. He wasn't going to go back and forget it all.

One of his favourite memory –one of the very few well preserved in his mind- was all about him and daddy looking at the stars and counting them. Daddy would usually keep on counting them as Lloyd fell asleep, and he would be still there counting when the toddler woke up. He had once sworn he would break his daddy's record one day or another. Now he would count them just to feel his daddy was there, sitting with him on the cold balcony at night.

"I counted 43 stars yesterday, daddy!" Lloyd put the locket on the wet sand and eyed the picture intensely. "Then I slept, but don't worry! I woke up in my bed!"

Dad had tried to dissuade him from looking at the stars out in the cold, but the child systemically ignored it. Instead, he would roll the bed's blanket around him so he wouldn't fall ill while gazing at the nocturnal sky.

He would be strong like his daddy, one day or another. He wouldn't be able to protect mommy anymore, but he could still protect Noishe and dad and his little slice of paradise, stuck in the middle of a dangerous forest.

For his daddy had never let him down, not even when surrounded by ferocious Desians.

* * *

><p>It wasn't the first time Lloyd visited the human village, but he had always cowered and hid behind his dad's back every time someone stared at him. The adults were all so tall and menacing, the children were all so far and cold.<p>

"Why does a _human child_ live with a _dwarf?_ What's next, Desians raising our children? Martel helps us all!" was one of the recurrent comments those adults, specially the women, upon looking at Lloyd. The child's cheeks would grow red in shame and he would do his best to avoid their eyes, but they were everywhere. There were _so_many humans in that little village! And they were all ganging up on him, making him lose his breath.

"Dad…!" Lloyd would always cough and wheeze for air. "Dad…!"

He was still afraid of sudden hands gripping him and tearing him away from the bulky dwarf, because _ohdearGoddessMartel,listenhe'sspeakingthatdwarflanguage!He'sahumanchild!Weshouldraisehim!_

Truth was, dad was teaching him both his birth language and human language, at least the most common one used by merchants who travelled all over the world. That effectively would let him speak with many people should he ever meet them, but he would be barren from understanding those people belonging in lower ranks.

But there, being _Iselia_, human village of the _Oracles_, absolutely everyone was taught to learn the common human language –traditions may be damned. People outside would give away their newborn to ask for Martel's benediction where the Chosen Ones received the Goddess's Oracle, and many people were ready to die just to exchange a few words with the growing Chosen.

Who was currently looking at Lloyd with big, innocent blue eyes.

"Hello, my name's Colette," she beamed at the frightened child. Dad looked very amused at his reaction this time. "What's yours?"

* * *

><p>Lloyd grew to know another thing –Colette, the hailed Chosen One, their salvation from the Desians, was terribly humble, shy and happy of everything.<p>

He had also grown accustomed to detect whether Colette's smile was real or fake. To his sad surprise, it was very forced and fake almost all the time.

"Colette's always so gloomy, mommy," Lloyd told to the grave after fixing the flowers in front of it. "People cheer up because she's going to save us all, and she always smiles. But it's fake, mommy. It's such a fake smile. Why would the Chosen One be sad with all those people around, mommy?"

It hurt to be alone with just his dad and Noishe from time to time –Lloyd wished for more than scarce, formal visits and more friends. But then he thought –he had been happy to go to the human village the first time, excited even, until they tried to rip him away from dad.

Someone could very well be alone and sad even when surrounded by people. Those kids at the human village surely didn't want to involve Lloyd in their games, even when he was amidst them.

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><p>Time passed; Lloyd was now a seven years old young boy, and dad had made him a double present –a wooden sword for practice once he was old enough and a small dagger, useful for cutting loose branches and daily little problems. Lloyd had been so excited of his birthday presents he accidentally sliced his finger with the dagger –and finally understood why dad was always so concerned when he was handling sharp objects.<p>

Colette didn't have the occasion to wish him a happy birthday as no one wanted the six years old Chosen to wander through a forest. The reason –to visit a lonely pair of a dwarf and a human child- further closed any possibility someone could have protected her on the way.

The Desians were active as ever. Lloyd knew they had a peace treaty with Iselia, but that would held only as long as no person from Iselia hacked their activities. Knowing the Desians, they'd probably take a wandering child as a sign the treaty had been broken, and then they'd attack Iselia.

Lloyd closed his locket –he was outside and admiring it again with Noishe keeping him company and licking his ear- when a sudden blast could be heard in the sky. He had only the time to spring on his feet before one of the weirdest man he had ever seen appeared on the other side of the wooden bridge.

The man wasn't that tall, but his whole body was covered by a green-ish mantle that made him quite resemble a turtle. Shining red spectacles hid his eyes very well, but they could do nothing about the aged face, long purple hair pulled backward and the nasty smirk.

Lloyd tilted his head as he watched the turtle man cross the bridge and stroll casually near and after him. He even patted his head slightly –before Noishe lunged at him to bite his hand off. With a flick of his hand, weird green runes appeared in front of his appendage and emitted a gust of wind, throwing the bid sized dog against his pen.

"Go 'way, Desian!" dad finally screamed. He had lost time to find his oversized hammer –not the one used for forging and crafting. Only its handle was as tall as he was. He swayed it around at the turtle man's direction. "N' one broke ya' damn treaty!"

Turtle man's smile quipped up some more, clearly amused. "Of course no one did! But the treaty works only with Forcystus and his lackeys. I'm neither, and you want to hear me –or the child could… Suffer."

Lloyd was already scared when dad called turtle man "Desian"; he was quickly remembering whether he had unwillingly broken the treaty without noticing or not when he screamed –the ground beneath him shaking and then splitting. The child was soon enclosed in a stony cage, rocking in the air as the wind breezed stronger.

Dad looked furious at turtle man, then at Lloyd –and lowered his hammer. He spat on the ground when turtle man chuckled at his defeat.

"Quite a work of art, might I say!" turtle man clapped at his own cage, temporarily giving dad his back. "Old age has no power on me. Oh, try to hit me with my guard down and your delightful human child will be spiked to death!"

"Wha' d' ya want…" dad threw the hammer at the feet of the cage and hold up his arms, showing to be completely armless now. "Desian?"

Out of the blue, a sack full of gold landed in front of dad. It was so full some coins sprawled on the grass upon contact, as the string used to close the bag snapped. Warily, dad took his time to group all the gold back in the container –all while never leaving turtle man out of his sight.

"A job only a dwarf can carry out," turtle man hushed his voice and left the side of the cage, giving Lloyd the sign to stay silent and let the adults speak. The child was on the verge of crying, he had seen what Desians could and would do to people, and now dad was facing one without weapons and his adopted son kept as hostage. He didn't make a sound, snot oozing from his nose, onto his mouth and all down his chin.

Dad stepped aside, inviting turtle man in to discuss the matter further. It was only when the door closed behind that Lloyd started to bawl and weep for the event, his screams rising every time the wind knocked the cage rougher.

The sun was setting when turtle man finally came out, his smirk impossibly larger than before. Although he spared only a glance at Lloyd, this time he stared at the frightened child with smugness etched in his expression. "Lloyd _Irving_, aren't you?"

Lloyd saw dad frowning deeply at him, and took it as a signal of danger –not that he needed it. The child nodded, trying to swallow a lump down his throat.

"Does your mother happen to be called Anna?" turtle man asked, but he didn't need any answer –he was looking at the grave his dad had built to commemorate his dead mother. "Does your father happen to be called _Kratos?_"

The child merely clutched the locket with a stronger grip, turning his knuckles white.

"Don' ya-!"

"Hold down your hammers, dwarf," turtle man snapped his fingers, and the cage was immediately casted even higher. Lloyd shrieked briefly and then some more when he noticed he could see the balcony connected to his room, since he was imprisoned so high.

"You don't want anything to happen to your _dear_, adopted _child_, do you?"

What scared Lloyd more was how he couldn't see dad and turtle man anymore, he could only hear their voices –when they weren't covered by the gnashing gale. And he started shivering, due to the cold and fear.

"…A pact. You will keep working for me… Paid, obviously… No one will harm or know of the child… Quite the Desians' target…"

Even after having been safely brought down to ground and turtle man's disappearance, it took more than desperate hugs and Noishe's nuzzles to quiet Lloyd's wailing. No one did sleep well that night, nor the night after, nor the day after again.

* * *

><p>For his eleventh birthday, Lloyd received another wooden sword –a twin of the one he had treasured since his seventh birthday. He had began teaching himself how to fight with swords shortly after turtle man's first visit, and he had wanted a second sword –so he could be stronger because double the swords, double the power.<p>

Dad gave up talking him out of his insane double swords idea very soon. Instead, he worried about the new elven teacher in Iselia and how she would take Lloyd's spurts of idea. He had been already sent back more than once with notes observing how the child was more used at writing in dwarf language, and would often not realize he'd turn in unreadable homework.

Doing his best to make sure Lloyd could attend a human school –because despite how the new teacher was a young but knowledgeable elf, lessons were still intended to be for humans. For human children who had been raised by human parents, used to human customs and traditions- was quickly pretending a high toll, both mentally and physically.

Lloyd may have known the Chosen One Colette for years, but people cried out murder when they came to know Lloyd sported inexistent familiarity in the Church of Martel –and even worse, how he never honoured a single festivity dedicated to Martel. Instead, he would be spouting about Summon Spirits and Dwarven Vows, completely neglecting the _holy and spiritual side_.

Both Lloyd and dad thanked all the Summon Spirits out there for already living isolated outside the village: Iselia's villagers were steadily growing more and more restless about Lloyd, and the kids at school even aimed at him with stones the second Colette left him alone to go to the loo. The elven teacher thankfully healed any injuries with her magic and punished the children, but then their parents came to scream and moan at the injustice that happened.

"Injustice? _Injustice?_" the elven teacher had at one point screeched. "Your _sain tchildren _targeted another child with a rain of stones! _Stones!_ They could have killed him if it hadn't been for me and the _Chosen One!_"

People had petitioned to have the elven teacher and her kid brother –who wasn't attending school, instead he would sit outside his home reading incredibly big tomes- thrown out of Iselia. They'd have succeeded too if Colette and her grandmother hadn't intercepted for them.

Lloyd knew his dad was desperate; his training wasn't going so well, and going to school in Iselia was dangerous for him. Maybe even more dangerous than turtle man –Rodyle, that was his name. He had heard it once or twice as he hid under his blankets and prayed for turtle man to go away-, which was the main reason dad had started to send him to school.

On the other side, turtle ma- Rodyle hadn't done anything more to Lloyd. Noishe would get all protective and growl at the half-elf, but he wouldn't attack and turtle man wouldn't retaliate. However, he had taken insane pleasure at staring at Lloyd so much to make him squirm and shiver without even raising a hand.

"Child," he once said, changing their years old interaction for the first time. "Say, did mommy leave you a pretty blue stone before dying?"

* * *

><p><strong>[PART 2]<strong>

* * *

><p>Twelve years old Lloyd was beginning to feel utterly lost in his life.<p>

His and dad's attempts to interact on a further level with the inhabitants of the human village Iselia had failed miserably. Not even Colette could stand as a shield when the kid was faced with an ultimatum –he would have had to reject his Dwarven heritage, house and parent in order to be permanently transferred under the care of a proper, human family in Iselia, because rising a human child outside of Martel's teachings was a sin.

Lloyd doubted they were talking about the same Martel Colette preached him about –the Goddess of forgiveness and compassion, who loved equally all her sons.

To add fuel to the whole travesty, Lloyd had been officially booted out of Iselia on Colette's birthday. Later that day, a traveller –wanting dad to craft a new sword for him as the last one was breaking down and it wasn't worth repair it anymore- told the lonely family that the Chosen had shut herself in her room and prayed fervently Martel for the duration of the whole festival, so no one really enjoyed the holiday.

No one thought it was their fault, just they hoped they had divided Lloyd and Colette _before_ he could have _damaged_ her so much.

So the daily home lessons with dad resumed. It was so easy to slip back in the old habits that Lloyd started feeling that human village had just been an obstacle on his way. Of course, it pained to be alone –specially when Colette was surely all alone on her own. Maybe she managed to befriend that other lonely elf kid in the end-, but now he couldn't hear about human language and culture without wrinkling his nose in disgust.

With hell he was going to study that now. Lloyd preferred to take out his dagger –from his seventh birthday, still looking as new as it did all those years before- and carve small marvellous wooden statuettes full of details. He could repeat by heart all the major and minor constellations in the sky and the stars that made them up, but he couldn't nor wouldn't remember the politic castes in Palmacosta and the Church of Martel.

He was also advancing in his sword training. His first tries had hold depressing results –until he figured out his body wasn't up to the task yet and his imagination too wild. Doing exercises in the forest was too dangerous and he was still young, too young to follow infernal trainings, but he was already starting shaping his body and muscles for the future and studying stances and moves.

Lloyd's problem was that he had no real instructor and dad never trained to use a sword, so he was on his own. He had chosen to go for a personal style, too, and the only person who would comment on that was turtle man.

"Ah, today's youth! You know, you should start from the basics, not jump straight to the advanced stuff. The only thing you'll develop is your frustration!"

Turtle man –Rodyle- didn't help the situation at all. The atmosphere at home was always tense and strained whenever he stepped in with a new job for dad; at least, his large pockets made sure dad didn't have to worry about money anymore and so he started dedicating part of his time to his personal projects once more. It didn't mean he would reject other people's jobs –dad had told Lloyd he was rather famous in his work, he loved doing it. Plus there was Dwarven Vow #2: Never abandon someone in need.

"Don't look at me like that. You know what you need? A trainer. An instructor that can tell you what's right and what's wrong and follow you closely in your training. I can fetch one with a snap of my fingers, I can!"

Turtle man had been also hovering over Lloyd since that faithful question the year before. Of course mommy had left him a blue stone, but dad had told him since day 1 that no one else should know about it, let alone a Desian.

So Lloyd had answered that no, he had no pretty blue stone on his being or his room. He had never seen it nor heard about it. It was the only, right answer Lloyd could have give him –yet turtle man's smile mutated into something more creepy and out of the child's sphere of knowledge. What if turtle man could read minds…?

Nonetheless, turtle man brought another person with him in his next visit –Lloyd could safely deduce he was another half-elf from the pointed ears and the extravagantly coloured hair. Everyone but the elven siblings in Iselia had black, brown or blond hair, the new half-elf's was blue.

Dad got really, really angry over that and nearly blew up in front of his latest client.

* * *

><p>Knowing all this, it shouldn't have been a surprise seeing dad packing when he went down the stairs for breakfast the day after. If memory didn't betray him, there was a carriage normally used by merchants and rich travelling people ready to depart from Iselia in the first afternoon.<p>

"Wer leavin'," dad said with a soft growl. "Wer leavin' 'nd never comin' back. 'ts too dangerous fer both o' us."

All of Lloyd's most precious belongings -except for his parents' locket and mommy's exsphere- were easily collected in a plain brown bag. He was supposed to keep it always near himself, like dad was going to do with his gold and personal projects. The forge and most of the utensils were left behind, no carriage could carry them and dad had enough money to buy brand new and high quality equipment.

It was more problematic to make Noishe get out of his pen, since he kept on howling and tugging on the leash. In the end, the giant dog accepted to chase the carriage at a certain distance, so his presence wouldn't scare anyone away.

The trip to Iselia's main gate was tense and painfully slow -Lloyd had both his swords ready to be unsheathed in a moment; but both dad and him were heaved down by their luggage.

Lloyd cheered loudly when they got to the carriage on time and also managed to ignore everyone's angry stares.

* * *

><p>Lloyd's happy mood disappeared rather quickly.<p>

Once the excitement over the new mean of travelling faded away, the boy found himself forced on sitting, eating and sleeping inside the coach. The charioteers would halt thrice each day to let passengers relieve themselves in the nature.

If they happened to pass through a village, instead, they'd use the local facilities to take care of their needs. They even slept in an inn once or twice before finally reaching the edge of the Desert of Triet.

Lloyd protested loudly on the camels and the choice of clothing, but there was no other alternative for them. He spent the first day complaining from time to time about how thirsty he was, but water there was a luxury. They'd light up a fire at night and use sleeping bags, and dad took advantages of these occasions to continue Lloyd's education.

But once Triet was finally in sight, Lloyd had fallen ill. He was still fairly young and didn't have any kind of acclimatizing, thus it was a hard choice for dad to resume their journey to Izoold the very next day. Thankfully, there were some people in Triet who were still in debts with him; purchasing some medicines for the poor kid didn't impact his savings at all.

After nearly a painful month, the caravan was out of the desert. The only road for Izoold was the Ossa Trail -which had to be crossed on feet. Dad didn't even remember he had taught Lloyd so many Dwarven swears.

Thankfully, despite being about just as harsh as the travel through the desert, they left Ossa Trail behind very soon. It took merely two-three days to reach the port town.

They had abandoned their beloved house in Iselia Forest little more than three months ago when the army ship came back from Palmacosta. Dad had said it was going to be their new home for now, as they were both tired and tested by the long road. Noishe wouldn't stop whining and Lloyd had slept and eaten very little in the last two weeks.

The night before landing at Palmacosta, Lloyd gazed at his daddy and mommy's locket under the moonlight again. He had been disregarding it since turtle man asked him about mommy's pretty blue sphere.

But now they were no longer isolated and still had some more time to find a place far enough from the scary half-elf.

* * *

><p>Lloyd liked Palmacosta when he first saw it. There was a central square and market and countless islands on which people lived and sold their products. Everyone could use a local free service, which included boats and seamen available to accompany anyone to their destination.<p>

Dad bought a vacant house on one of the small islands and asked Lloyd to give him a hand in restructuring it. Then he single-handedly built a new forge, as it was impossible to have one shipped to the place even if he wanted to.

Lloyd would tail behind whenever dad went to buy groceries. There were no more monsters or Desians lurking nearby, and the boy realized a lot of his joyful mood and antics had been squashed by the constant previous tension.

However, while Iselia had a Treaty of Non-Aggression, Palmacosta couldn't say the same. The newly elected Governor-General Dorr had inherited some kind of contract from his father, which stated a specific death quota for each year. Desians would need special permission from the present Grand Cardinal to kill someone whenever the quota was reached.

And so, while dad was bargaining for a really expensive bottle of Palma Potion, Lloyd had gotten bored and went out without warning. Not only he nearly managed to bump into a Desian patrol, but Grand Cardinal Magnius himself was attending an execution right in front of Governor-General Dorr's governmental building.

The redheaded half-elf had a fiery temper which was completely unknown to crazy turtle-man and the mysterious -albeit Lloyd had heard he was noble and kind within his kind, but ruthless against his enemies- Forcystus. Other than his limited vocabulary, which however didn't decrease Lloyd's horror, he was out for blood -whenever it was rightfully deserved or not.

What started as the execution of a merchant which had refused to serve Desians quickly evolved in an escalation of unproved crimes. Now there was a maid which had hit a half-elf in the face with a trail, now there was an old man which had been caught ranting against the Palmacosta ranch. Dad intervened before Lloyd could witness a child -who had tripped on a rock- being beheaded for thinking it was all plays and games.

Lloyd clutched his locket and cried, not looking forward at all to his thirteenth birthday.

* * *

><p>Palmacosta had then lost much of its initial attraction on Lloyd. Still, if Desians didn't happen to turn up, life fixed itself on a steady sequence.<p>

It was the biggest city in the whole world -_the_ _whole world!_-, the only one with a local militia which was being personally groomed by Governor-General Dorr. The man imposed heavy taxes on his people, but weapons and armours and shields weren't cheap. Specially not in a world so thoroughly oppressed by Desians.

Turtle-man didn't appear again. In his place, the house was flooded with orders and commissions by people coming from all over the world. People were being inspired by Dorr's revolutionary speeches against the monsters, and dad was apparently the only dwarf who would accept to work for humans -as long as they had the money, he would produce equipment whose quality was over the ones humans could craft.

Its downside involved Lloyd being shipped to a human school _again_. Dad had not the ideal time the boy needed nor he wanted him to interrupt his instruction altogether. Dad would tutor him in Dwarven arts and the human school would take care of the rest.

Except that, just like it happened in Iselia, Lloyd's old problems sprung up with new life. The boy was more interested in sitting in a corner carving figures out of wood than writing essays about humans' scientific discoveries. And he would really often land in a corner as punishment for not doing his homework, or for talking about what Dwarven art he had learned instead of reading the assigned chapters.

Both dad and Lloyd were ready to pick up the short straw again as the last time. But, contrary to their wildest expectations, the teachers at school didn't single the boy out as a weird phenomenon that had to be corrected -with violent lashing in the worst case-.

Instead, they suggested to direct Lloyd toward subjects he would actually enjoy -and study: the boy had no attitude for theoretic work unless it had to do with wars and tactics. His practical work was always at its best quality, and they really wouldn't have minded to conserve his little paintings in their homes. He was also able to forge friendships very easily -as long as he could find someone who wouldn't treat him badly for his different beliefs.

In fact, when dad saw him hanging around and playing happy with a few more children of his age, he decided Palmacosta could be finally good for Lloyd's childhood. There were also seasoned swordsmen available for teaching Lloyd for a good price, and money weren't such a problem.

In a following discussion, the boy too declared enthusiastic he wouldn't mind staying in Palmacosta. Now he had friends and wasn't looked upon badly by almost everyone, some students even commissioned him for smaller projects and gifts. Desians were unfortunately everywhere, and he had heard there was no contract with the Asgard Ranch over Hakonesia Peak. The only alternative had been Iselia, and that was crossed out.

When Lloyd expressed his sadness for being so far from his mommy's grave, dad took out the pretty blue sphere she had left him so many years ago. He took it with care and snuggled it before he saw a key-crest for him on the table.

"'s time yer learn 'bout it," dad told him gravely. Lloyd was going to need it, in case he ever went up against Desians -since it wasn't a remote possibility anymore.

* * *

><p><em>Gods, Dirk's speech. I see he has an accent in fanfics, but my copy of the game has his dialogues neatly written in proper Italian. Dragon Quest IV is one of the few games that still retains accents in the translated script, I guess. And yes, I know Dirk had told Lloyd his mother died in an accident and not at the hands of the Desians, but I changed it here on purpose.<em>

_Will be completed –and beta'd?- later._


	7. Ashes of this World extra

_If anyone's worrying about their request(s), don't worry, they'll be in my next update. They're nearly done after all -and about time, too._

_This was an idea for a scene in __Ashes of this World__, but I had no idea where to put it; thus it's going in here as a stand-alone extra._

_Well, I'm going to make one or two references to this in __Ashes of this World__, so I decided to update it. I needed an excuse to re-organize this collection of one-shots (or two-shots, or three-shots, whatever) too._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do not own Tales of Symphonia (or its sequel) and the characters that appear in the game. I do not earn any money from this story. Unbeta'd._

* * *

><p>Flora put down the now empty glass on the table with a hurtful sigh. The chair scraped a little against the floor as she redirected herself better, then she poured herself another glass of wine.<p>

Both his husband and her _nephew_ had left the house for the day. Alba would be running patrols around the dried up lake to discover any sign of foul play, her _nephew_ would be…Probably roaming around aimlessly, avoiding as many people as possible.

She had the whole house for herself, but she didn't know what to do with it. The floor and walls were clean, there weren't dishes to be done and the laundry was already hanging outside.

For a woman like her, that wouldn't prevent her from finding something to do immediately. But she would have to step out of her house and witness Luin, the _City of Water_, without its famed lake and primary resource.

Luin's people and her husband blamed her _nephew_ for it. Admittedly, the idea that a cripplingly shy 16 years old who backs off when he's shouted at could be behind the odd phenomenon was stupid at best and completely insulting to anyone's intelligence at worst. But that wasn't the only reason her _nephew_ was a persona non grata in his new -and Flora flinched at this, because she was from Palmacosta and her older sister had _died_ there- hometown.

No, her _nephew_ just had to hate Lloyd the Hero for no reason.

She forgone her handkerchief and cleaned her mouth with the sleeve of the dress. It didn't matter. What did matter was making sure she didn't empty the bottle in front of her.

Flora didn't like drinking that much. People did and said all the sort of idiotic things while under the influence of alcohol. But she just didn't know _what to do_ to pass the day.

How did her _nephew_ deal with it?

She stopped herself from pouring even more wine in the glass. When did she empty it? Was it five minutes ago, or just a bunch of seconds ago -another glass of wine she had drunk mechanically, unconsciously?

Ah yes, her _nephew_. What was Flora supposed to do with him? Alba had washed his hands clear of him a week after meeting his _nephew_ for the first time.

He had come and the lake had dried up. She had already answered herself on that one -incredible bad timing. Just because Raine Sage's younger brother could drop meteors at the tender age of 12 years old -so she had heard, she didn't remember where or when- didn't mean her _nephew_ could replicate such feats at 16.

He _hated_ Lloyd the Hero. Now that left her baffled. She could understand him at the beginning -Lloyd the Hero had attacked and torched Palmacosta! Lloyd the Hero had _killed her older sister!_

Except it hadn't been Lloyd the Hero. The _real_ Lloyd the Hero had been at Asgard, taking care of the accident caused by those snobbish Tethe'Allan nobles. Pah, those bastards. They had also come to Luin and insinuated she, Flora, was a whore they could buy with a bunch of Gald!

Whoever this fake Lloyd was, everyone in Luin hated him for trying to frame their Hero. Everything should have settled down after receiving an official message from the Church of Martel.

Yet her _nephew_ had kept on hating Lloyd the Hero, not the impostor. The reasons she wasn't aware of behind his hatred for such a beloved figure worried her. Had he been deeply traumatized by the Blood Purge to the point of being unable to see reason?

He couldn't be a true supporter of the Vanguard. He didn't have the backbone for that.

"If only you were still here with me..." Flora muttered as she glanced at an old picture of her sister's marriage. She had found it in a drawer she had pushed into her _nephew_'s room and then promptly forgot about.

Her parents had adored the picture. How could they not, the artist had perfectly portrayed her older sister with her husband on the happiest day of their life, down to the smallest detail of their features and clothes. If she didn't know her sister was dead and buried, Flora would believe Lana was looking straight at her.

But with that old murmurs in the back of her mind came back to life. Flora hadn't liked Reysol, he had always struck her as weird, weak-willed and unable to bear her sister's temper. Yes, her _nephew_ was all his father, down to his hair and face. She couldn't help but loathe him a little for not being more similar to Lana -he had her eyes, but they looked nothing like hers-, though she wanted to tell herself it was as irrational as blaming him for drying the lake.

_...Down to his hair and face..._

Flora blinked. What was that...? She took the picture closer to her eyes. Blond hair and green eyes, check.

The rest, however, _didn't check_.

She knew the picture in her hand had virtually no flaw. She had known Lana for so long her face and figure never faded from her mind, and the Lana in the picture was identical to her sister.

So the problem wasn't the picture.

Flora had written off her _nephew_ as a mini clone of his father for so long it was natural she hadn't noticed it earlier. Apparently, the comparisons between the two hold up only when she took their personalities in consideration.

However, while Reysol was blond, the actual shade of blond was wrong. Reysol's hair -short, well tamed, nothing like the mild case of permanent bed-head of her _nephew_- looked more like sand. Her _nephew_ sported such a light shade that it tended to be nearly blinding under the sun.

And the features were all wrong, her _nephew_ managed to be even more feminine while having none of the flawed grace of her sister or the flat -common, unable to stand out in a crowd- face of Reysol.

The more Flora examined the picture, the more differences she found between her _nephew_ and his parents. Or his _supposed_ parents, she wasn't sure anymore. She downed yet another glass of wine.

She remembered clearly the day she had seen her _nephew_ for the first time. He was lost in Luin, asking everyone if they knew uncle Alba and aunt Flora. He was so meek and shy, disgustingly similar to Reysol -never mind the fact her sister always told him Reysol was a good man and that was the most important characteristic in a person- she hadn't thought twice and brought him home with her.

She punched the table. How _naive_ of her! Taking a complete stranger home without even asking for information first! Any idiot could go to Palmacosta and lift the names of the first married couple he found.

Flora froze, ice filling her veins.

If Emil wasn't her _nephew_, then _who was he...?_

"A-aunt Flora...?"

Said woman winced in the chair and turned around. Her ne- Emil was standing at the door with a bruise adorning his right cheek and gulping down whatever words he had thought. His eyes were immediately fixed on the empty bottle on the table and the glass in her hand.

"A-am I disturbing-"

"_How dare you_."

Flora got up -and Emil immediately stepped backwards. Ah, there was _fear_ in his eyes. Such pure green eyes that she could name some people who would kill for them. Lana surely _didn't_ have those eyes.

"_How dare you!_"

She absentmindedly noticed she was towering over the pitiful form of Emil. The pathetic boy was all but cowering in front of her, only because the railing behind him didn't allow him to get any further away from her.

"A-aunt Flora..."

"_Don't call me that!_" she screamed this time, getting the attention of the crowd outside the inn on her. "You little lying...! You're _not_ Lana's son! You're not my _nephew_! Get out of my _house!_"

Startled, Emil didn't even move to dodge her punch. It nearly sent him over the railing and on the street below, but thankfully he didn't tip over. Instead, blood was now flowing freely from his nose and on the wood.

"Get out!" Flora screeched again, her hand grasping the broom resting outside on the gallery. "_GET OUT!_"

This time, Emil didn't wait for her reaction. He sped down the stairs, nearly tripping and smashing his face on a wall, and ran away before the people around could gang on him.

Flora's high shrills followed him all the way out of Luin.

* * *

><p>Rumours spread <em>fast<em> after that event.

Suddenly, it was like all Luin had been around Alba and Flora's house when she kicked Emil out, shouting and screeching he wasn't her sister's son. It was quickly found she had drunk _a lot_, but the damage had been already done.

Simply _being_ in Luin became a torture. People whispered cruel things when they happened to see him or contributed to make his life worse when he wasn't around to hear them. Even the few merchants coming from outside the city were sizing him up with disapproval.

Bullies never left him alone -and were now waving blades and kitchen knives with the approval of those passers-by who didn't disregard what was going on under their nose- and now someone had been throwing rocks at his window, all of them carrying threats on his person.

And while his dear uncle had preferred to stay as far away as possible from him, now he was actively looking for Emil to "make sure he doesn't cause any trouble, the ungrateful vermin". Alba hadn't started beating him -he would just manhandle him from time to time-, but the look in his eyes promised pain.

Flora…Flora just ignored him. She made her best to avoid even looking in his general direction.

This was why Emil had taken to disobeying Alba and going out of Luin for most of the day. Meals with his relatives grew sparse as the blond boy learned to catch and pick his own food and cook it without burning a forest or giving away signs of his presence to travellers and patrols.

It didn't hurt that monsters and animals didn't actively try to harm him. On the contrary, they would join his lunches and dinners and even warn him whenever some humans arrived close to his place. Emil couldn't pinpoint when it started, but with time the monsters' feels and messages began to resonate clearly in his mind.

Lucretia, a bear he had found hanging around the dried up lake a few days before, was sniffing the bucket filled with water to the brim he had offered her. Emil patted her head, smiling. He could feel her radiating contentment as she started drinking. No one from Luin would go to the lake for water now, so the boy would usually take refuge there.

If only humans were a little more similar to those they call _monsters_ and _animals_. But no, it didn't matter what he did. They treated him as a servant at best and an enemy to stamp out at worst.

Emil curled up on the spot, pressing his face on his knees. Lucretia whined a little and nuzzled his mop of blond hair, but he didn't shift position.

Why was he so sad about it? Humans were impossible to treat after all, he shouldn't be expecting anything positive from them. _Or from half-elves_, as he sometimes heard like a whisper in his ear. Just look at the Tethe'Allans, all high and haughty and snooty because their world hadn't been ravaged like the Sylvaranti's. They needed no reason to antagonize everyone else and to destroy everything in their path, even on a simple whim.

"I hate them..." Emil mumbled. "I hate them all..."

Red eyes flashed in the back of his mind.

* * *

><p><em>Flora had really drunk a lot, I just avoided mentioning any single time she took a shot. Accordingly, her reasoning may appear farfetched and incredibly rushed and it probably is.<em>

_Reysol is actually blond and Lana is a brunette with green eyes. I took some freedom with their features though and how much Emil really resembles them. Besides, Alba and Flora did take Emil in simply because he said he was their nephew, they had never seen Lana's son before in canon._

_That's all for now. See you on the next update!_


	8. Day 11

_I've decided to join the ToSCountdown on dA last month. I've planned to fill at least half the days/prompts for August unless I met some problem on the way, but except for Day 12 it has been going smoothly so far.  
>My entries for Day 11 (AU idea) and Day 15 (Fanfiction Day) are, well, one-shots. I haven't uploaded anything on my FF account for a while, so why not? If it causes any problem, I'll take the one-shots off the side.<em>

_Answers to comments will be in the next one-shot.  
><em>

**_Disclaimer: _**_I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters which appeared in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

* * *

><p>She walked swiftly through the crowd. It wasn't her who sidestepped in case she bumped into another person, it was everyone else who gave her a wide berth. Everyone else looked at her with respect or in awe, a newcomer even waved at her. The only response he got was a punch at the back of his head for blatant disrespect.<p>

She didn't stop to intermingle with them. There would always be time later, she reasoned. Always later.

As she walked, she came across less and less people until she was completely alone in the hallways. There was one door between her and the object of her work. While it was a magnificent door built to repel unwanted visitors, she had been among those who had projected, built and then placed it. Thus it opened immediately at her touch and closed up once she entered.

The Great Seed loomed on her, beautiful and terrible. But she didn't deign to look at it. The whole room, so high that the ceiling couldn't be seen even with the bright windows, was bathed in its soft light with little shadows in the narrow nooks in the walls as it was quite bare: there were only a person and liquid mana, which emitted an intense blue light and formed a circle beneath the Seed.

"Hello Mithos," greeted Martel, sitting down in front of the glowing pool of mana. "It has been a long day today, but we got many important matters done."

The figure of Mithos, Martel's dear younger brother, floated helplessy above the bright mana. Shiny drops of magic poured endlessly from the Great Seed on him without leaving any kind of trail behind before finally falling in the pool beneath. The young boy was hunched forward, his head unable to stand without the boy's consciousness guiding his body and his eyes far away. Martel was aware Mithos couldn't even sense her, but she kept telling herself that the light in his eyes wasn't only the reflection of the mana pool, and that they shined even more when he heard her voice.

"There have been a few quarrels on Sylvarant," she then continued after the brief moment of silence. Her smile didn't fade away, on the contrary, it widened until its apparent warmth didn't reach her eyes anymore. "We have received complains on how we manage the distribution of mana between the worlds. But don't worry," she hastened to explain, "After taking care of the matter, no one had anything else to add. It solved itself."

Guilt gathered in her chest as she omitted the fact the newborn revolt was suppressed in blood. However, it was just a pitiful number of humans raising their voices too much. Mithos didn't need to know that, Martel mused. It would have only made him sad, and she didn't know she could ever forgive herself if she ever caused Mithos to falter. They all depended on him. On his sacrifice.

"A new frontier for the rights of the half-elves has been created on Tethe'Alla," she said to change the subject. Her sight never left his brother, hoping -no, sure that any sudden movement would tell her his brother was still _there_, that it wasn't merely an empty husk. "You would be proud of them, Mithos. They vowed to resolve the abyss that separates humans from elves, to bring them back to the original world that gave birth to half-elves... Before all the discrimination, all the hatred began."

Martel paused to cough, her throat had suddenly felt constricted. A hidden memory, buried in the back of her brain, shook off its restraints for few, painful seconds before being reassessed and secured again. In times like this she wondered against her will what would have been if she had been the Root of the Great Seed and not her brother. The irony of her surname, her dear brother's surname wasn't lost on her, but here...

She should have been the Root. She might had used to break whatever arguments Yuan, Kratos and her brother cyclically found themselves in, but it was Mithos's idealism and will that brough them all together and pushed them forward. He was the one who had never given up, who had never stopped believing in any of them when he saw them at their worst. Martel was sure the Kharlan War would have destroyed everything if Mithos had never been born.

"It should have been me," she muttered. Tears began to streak her face and fall down, intertwining themselves with the mana at her feet. "I'm sorry Mithos, I'm sorry I'm not strong enough. I'm sorry." Her last sentence came out nearly unintelligible due to her sobs. "I'm sorry I'm cheapening your decision."

There was so much running through her mind and she had no air to give them voice. How Yuan had cooled off toward all of them and actively avoided them -he believed himself to be inconspicuous, but they had been together for more than three thousands of years. He was always busy or magically found a reason to be busy whenever she accosted him. Martel found herself playing around with their engagement ring alone. It had been her idea to postpone the marriage until her brother was back.

But from the way they were going, the marriage was never going to happen.

Kratos had been another matter altogether. It was _her_ who couldn't stop itching when he was around. Martel always had to stop herself from lashing out at him, his emotionless visage frozen in apathy, that monotone of his! She couldn't remember him raising his voice for centuries and had lost her patience to strain her ears when he talked. Even with her enhanced senses she could barely hear him.

Mithos would never know how Martel slapped Kratos and ordered him to visit her brother. That her brother was his prized pupil and he should act like a proper mentor, and to keep his blasted little pet _away_ when he dared to whine at her. But Kratos didn't! He just _looked_ at her defeated and turned away.

She then suddenly recalled she hadn't seen Kratos at all in the past years. But Mithos was more important. She would look for Kratos later.

After drying her last tears away, Martel smiled widely again. "I promise you we're all going to help them at the best of our abilities. When you wake up there won't be any discrimination ever again. And then we'll be all happy again."

But Mithos never moved during Martel's conversation. She told herself there was light in his eyes and not just a reflection.

* * *

><p><em>When it comes to AUs, I love What-Ifs.<em> _While I also like the ideas the other artists of ToSCountdown came up with (applePAI's is interesting plot wise, given how much plotpoints have to be tweaked and played with to not create giant holes), I went with a radical What If that changes the plot completely and made sure two canon characters (Colette and Zelos) would never be born to begin with. _

_It was also partially inspired by Mithos and Martel's surname, Yggdrasil, which in the Norse mythology is a tree that connects all the nine existing worlds. Here Mithos becomes the connection between a dying Great Seed and the two worlds, which were kept separated due to mana depletion but are aware of each other's existence._

_I doubt it will ever become a full story, I have to focus on what I've already posted._


	9. Day 15

_** Guest:** Glad to know you enjoyed the story!_  
><em>And no, I probably won't write a longer story starting from any of these prompts unless I really want to or I come up with more ideas related to them. They're mostly one-shots that are already finished in my eyes.<em>

_** I'm Sexy:** I'm sorry, I noted down your request but not the rest of the review ^^; The blue-haired half-elf in "Locket" wasn't supposed to be Yuan, but you gave me the perfect motivation to include him in the future. So yeah, now it's Yuan._

_** Darkfirelight:** _  
><em>Emil took a lot of psychological beatings in the beginning of Dawn of the New World as Luin's persona non grata. His non-existent self-esteem didn't help. It was shaping up as the perfect receipt for disaster until Richter came around, but here things will go differently.<em>  
><em>Humor RainexLloyd? Fine for me, it's no problem!<em>

**_Warning,_**_ character dea__th._**_  
><em>**

**_Disclaimer: _**_I do not own Tales of Symphonia and the characters which appeared in the game, and I do not earn any money from this story._

* * *

><p>Personally, Genis had never taken Lloyd for a person who would set down on his own in a single place given his love for travelling. In fact, it had taken Colette's first unplanned but not unwanted pregnancy for them to look up a permanent residence.<p>

That was Dirk's last gift for them: he tore down the house he had built years before to raise Lloyd and rebuilt it for the future family. Lloyd had known how much Dirk had missed the underground and didn't protest against his decision to go back in his first home. The two of them had kept in contact for years afterwards.

However, time passed and the house got old too. Genis stared at the weed growing over the fence, the wooden steps in front of the main door and suffocating other plants. It had even managed to reach windows on the ground level. He could only wonder the last time the lawn was weeded. The fence gate too cracked when he opened it.

"Ah, Genis!" the soft voice came from the inner part of the courtyard, which was hidden to the viewers outside the property. That's where Genis found his old friend, standing next to the graves of Anna and Colette. Even then he smiled at Genis.

The half-elf huffed at his old friend's stained clothing; the shirt had been tucked backward. Lloyd was also swaying on his legs as he had no more strength to sustain his own weight for long times without a support. As it was evening, Lloyd could have been on his own for the whole day! He couldn't afford to stay alone, he wasn't young anymore and was unable to fully take care of himself. "What happened here, Lloyd? The grass is growing wildly, and look at yourself! Why are you completely alone?"

Lloyd snickered at his friend's outrage. "I like it better this way," he said. "I still have the right to call people off my lawn. Seriously, they've been smothering me like I could kill myself with a fork or choke on my own shirt." He spread his arms and continued: "Look! I can put it on wrong and survive! And besides, I've Noishe with me. I'm not really that alone." He added as an afterthought as he pointed at the large protozoan. Indeed, Noishe was curled on himself under the porch, soundly asleep.

There was nothing Genis could say once Lloyd was so giddy in his old age. Instead, he grabbed his old friend's arm and dragged him inside, all the while muttering about how he was going to nail him to the couch and feed him with sleeping pills. His friend offered no resistance and sat down quietly at the table to enjoy the show of Genis freaking out at how messy and neglected the kitchen was. By the time Genis had calmed down and actually fixed dinner for the both of them, the sun had completely gone down.

"It's messy only for you, Genis," Lloyd replied when the half-elf placed silverware and a plate of pasta in front of him. "I know perfectly where everything is. Always had since..." _Since Colette's death_ were the unspoken words. "So there. You don't need to worry over me."

Genis just shrugged and took a bite from his sandwich. He had gotten used to the silent meals they now shared: Lloyd would smile and say something stupid that he found funny, but the noise of cutlery hitting the plate or cutting the food would fill the air for the most part. Their animated discussions and food fights had died with Colette. And, Genis would have died instead of confessing it, Lloyd's old age was taking its toll out of each other. Genis was younger than his friend, yet he still looked like in his twenties.

The half-elf coughed, breaking the pact they had made that day. "Lloyd... Is there anything you regret?" he asked.

The change was immediate: Lloyd's smile disappeared and he grasped the knife to the point his knuckles turned white. Enough for Genis to fear he had stepped on an invisible boundary meant to be left alone.

"Regret?" The half-elf let out his breath again when Lloyd turned back to his meal after a few seconds. Yet his voice was so sore and soft, actually showing his age for once. "Many things. All the people I couldn't help. But mostly..." He took another bite before resuming talking, at which point his voice had lowered until it was hardly inaudible. "That I outlived all our friends. Outlived Colette."

There wasn't anything else to say, so Genis didn't push him to keep talking. That was the matter. He had outlived Colette, but a part of him -what made him Lloyd Irving- had died with Colette. Everyone had expected him to die shortly afterwards of a broken heart. For Genis, that would have been better than watching his old, best friend wasting away.

The shadows plaguing the room had become unsustainably ominous when Lloyd finally set the silverware down for good. He had made move to stand up, but grumbled when Genis was already by his side to help him walk. "I already told you, I'm not a helpless baby!" was Lloyd's weak protest. "I can still walk. I'm not chair bound. Don't do this to me..."

"I can't." Genis replied as he guided his old friend up the stairs. "I promised you I'd always stay by your side, didn't I?" Lloyd scoffed at the sentiment, probably thinking the sentiment as corny as Dwarven Vow #7. Specially after his physical form was eaten away by age.

His old friend attempted to chase after freedom when routine had wanted him already in his bed. Genis was used to that too, Lloyd tried it every night with everyone, be it his best friend, his old teacher or one of his children or grandchildren. Contrary to the half-elf's expectation, Lloyd didn't vocally protested being basically lifted off the floor and carried to the bed. Instead he relaxed completely once on the mattress and under the bed sheets, his eyes never leaving Genis.

"Eh, Genis?" he called out as the half-elf was half-way out of the bedroom. Genis stopped immediately at the unfamiliar event. "Do... Do you regret anything?"

"Mithos," Genis answered without thinking twice. How could he not, it had been decades and the memory still hurt him. "Not being able to lessen the discrimination against half-elves... Because all the people of Sylvarant were being discriminated. Presea. Regal and Sheena's deaths, they didn't deserve it..."

Lloyd smiled softly. "So, you don't regret wasting time on my homework and explaining things to me when you already knew I'd fall asleep?"

"Like I could!" Genis shouted, then sighed as he saw Lloyd smiling widely as he found his outburst funny. "And I thought you were going to be serious!"

"But I am!" Lloyd replied pouting. "By the way, tell Raine I said hi!"

The half-elf closed the door behind him, mildly massaging his forehead and frowning at Lloyd's antics. Just when he entered the kitchen again he identified the feeling that had been pestering him the whole time, the fact Lloyd had been alone. While it wasn't uncommon, Genis had always met with a relative ready to leave his old friend in his cares whenever he visited. The house wasn't nearly so silent as that day too, even though the noise had mostly disappeared after Colette's passing.

He prepared the couch in the living room so he could spend the night there. There was no way for him to know if anyone was going to take care of Lloyd in the morning and Genis would never him completely unattended.

* * *

><p>The day after, Genis brought his friend's breakfast directly in his room so he didn't have to stand up and wouldn't hear him complaining about his old back pain. As he didn't move when Genis called his name, the half-elf went to wake him up personally. He was greeted by a cold, unmoving hand.<p>

Lloyd Irving, aged 96, had died in his sleep still smiling.

Despite his fame, Lloyd's funeral was a private affair reserved for his family and closest friends. Genis had met them all and knew more than a few of them were more than simple acquaintances, but for this occasion, his last farewell to the best friend of his life, he stuck to Raine. After all, they were the last of the Heroes of the Regeneration.

Both he and Raine had opened the ceremony and had the honour to greet Lloyd first -after Noishe, of course. The protozoan, which Lloyd had insisted until his death to call a "dog", wasn't moving from his old friend's side. The Sages would have just gotten in the way of the others, so they watched the event unfold from afar. "You knew Sis, didn't you?" Genis muttered. Raine didn't turn around. "You knew he was dying."

She sniffed and nodded. "...His body was giving out. He should have died some years ago... I believe he stayed alive purely on willpower." She eyed the young couple currently paying their last respects; the newborn in their hands squirmed a little, probably due to hunger. "To make sure everything was right in his family."

Brother and sister stayed behind on their own, silent, waiting for the rest of the family to end the small ceremony. Genis took from his pocket a small piece of paper he had found on Lloyd's will that was directed specifically to him.

_See you later! I'm sure we'll meet again, so I'll be waiting for you._

* * *

><p><em>I had this idea in mind for some time and I have now fulfilled it. It's one plot-bunny less around to torment me.<em>


End file.
